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EVILS  AND  ABUSES  • 


AVAL  AND  MERCHANT  SERVICE, 


EXPOSED ; 


WITH  PROPOSALS  FOR  THEIR  REMEDY  AND  REDRESS. 


BY  WILLIAM  McNALLY, 

Formerly  of  the  U.  S.  Nary. 


BOSTON. 

PUBLISHED    BY    CASSADY    AND    MARCH, 

For  the  Author,  at  No.  8  Wilson's  Lane. 

1839. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1839,  by  William 
McNally,  in  the  Cork's  OfEca  of  thp  District  Court  of  Massacbusetl», 

'  ■   ,-  '* «  %.• 


PREFACE. 


EvERV  Citizen  has  a  right  to  express  an  opinion  on  public  men  and  pub- 
lic measures  ;  and  in  doing  so  the  author  of  this  worli  is  actuated  by  no 
other  motive  than  to  improve  a  class  of  men  of  which  he  forms  a  part,  and 
who  have  been  so  shamefully  neglected.  He  has  no  personal  animosity  to 
gratify,  and  in  giving  instances  of  im^oprieties  and  abuses,  he  does  so, 
from  conviction  that  they  were  wrong;  and  that  system  which  will  not 
bear  investigation,"must  be  practically  impure. 

It  is  very  seldom  we  hear  a  word  in  the  councils  of  the  nation,  on  behalf 
of  seamen.  Many  members  of  Congress,  no  doubt,  would  be  happy  to 
bring  their  wrongs  and  grievances  to  notice,  and  assist  in  granting  redress, 
wexe  they  aware  of  their  existence  ;  but  futurity  is  not  more  carefully  hid 
from  our  knowledge,  than  are  the  wrongs  of  seamen  from  the  American 
people.  That  they  are  ignorant,  cannot  be  doubted ;  but  whose  fault  is  it  ? 
No  institutions  have  been  erected  for  them,  while  their  own  hard  earnings 
have  been  squandered  and  misused,  but  for  what  purpose  none  can  tell. — 
Every  one  knows  that  the  law  has  never  been  put  in  force  which  directs 
hospitals  and  asylums  to  be  built  with  the  hospital  fund.  The  earth  wili 
not  yield  her  increase  without  cultivation,  how  then  can  it  be  expected  that 
the  powers  of  the  human  mind  can  be  fully  developed  without  education  ? 

Nathaniel  Bowditch,  the  most  talented  of  mathematicians,  was  in  early 
life,  acommon  sailor,  without  education.  If  the  attention  of  seamen  coul4 
be  turned  to  the  important  subject  of  mathematics,  the  benefit  would  soon 
be  apparent;  for  they,  more  than  any  other  class  of  men,  have  opportuni- 
ties of  improving  themselves.  What  would  cost  a  landsman  years  of  hard 
study,  could  be  accomplished  by  a  seaman  in  the  usual  course  of  his  pro* 
fession. 

967679 


iV  PREFACE. 

The  following  pages  are  descriptive  of  evils  that  actually  exist  in  the 
naval  and  merchant  service.  By  a  perusal  of  the  work  the  landsman  may 
obtain  more  real  information  respecting  sea-life,  than  from  all  the  nautical 
novels  that  ever  issued  from  the  press. 

The  author  has  given  real  names  and  characters — bestowed  praise  and 
Maine,  and  given  his  reasons  for  fio  doing,  and  the  public  can  judge  how 
far  his  statements  can  be  relied  on.  He  has  been  carelul  to  add  no  color- 
ing or  embellishment,  as  his  object  is  the  good  of  all,  and  the  injury  of  none. 
Much  indeed  does  he  regret  that  seamen  have  not  a  better  advocate,  than 
one  who  was  niised  among  them,  and  of  course  deprived  of  the  advantages 
which  education  must  ever  give. 

With  regard  to  the  political  allusions  that  he  has  indulged  in,  he  wishes 
to  be  understood  as  having  imbibed  the  opinions  of  no  political  parly,  as  it 
is  a  subject  of  which  he  knows  but  little.  The  only  distinction  between 
tlie  two  parties  which  he  can  at  present  perceive  is,  that  one  is  in  office, 
and  wishes  to  remain  there,  and  the  other  is  out,  and  wishes  to  get  in. 
With  these  explanations,  the  author  submits  his  first  book  to  the  patronage 
of  the  public. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    l.^Pane  1. 

Nav}' pay  Mil— warrant,  or  forwanl  nfficers,  how  ne^lecterl — their 
limited  numher  and  cnnsiant  st'rviftj— difTreiice  hptween  tlit^  prr)|)or- 
titnial  ninnh«'r  o(cotMtiiissiniu,'d  ai'd  vvjuraiUerl  cfficers — th«payi>f  the 
lant^r  in  iliffruvm  class  ships,  and  injnstiiuv  tliereby— tin  ir  warrants 
wiildield  <Mjnl  af*tin<r  appfiijitments  jriven  Uihsii  -  ransf'T!»pre(»f — admirals 
in  the  navy — <iiflr»renc«  made  l>y  lie  Na\y  Department  hetuetm  a 
post  captain's  ladij  and  forward  officer'ci  wift  with  regard  to  pensions* 

CHAPTER    I  \.^Pasre  10. 

Petty  officers — their  pay  nniil  18-33  ;  then  reduced,  hy  whom,  and  for 
what  reations — the  injnslice  of  the  reduction  — the  U.  S.  schooner  Ex- 
periment—her  (pialities— increase  of  om*  national  resonr.es  attended 
by  a  reduction  of  petty  officers'  piy—an«»ther  alteration  made  in  their 
pay— ratinj^  a  nnui  one  rate  and  making  him  tlo  another  duty— the  p  ly 
of  yeomen  in  the  navy  increased — at  whose  snirg^slion— pay  of  pursers' 
stewards  and  seamen -mutiny  in  the  British  navy  at  the  Nore  from 
neglect  to  seamen,  compared  to  our  present  state—a  few  remarks  to 
seamen. 

CHAPTER    III. ^Page  18. 

Enlistment  and  crimping  for  the  navy— advance,  how  expended — 
injury  therefrom — amount  required  from  the  purser  in  three  year?,  and 
the  enormous  percenta^je  charged  tiiereon  — small  pay  of  pursers— the 
U.  S.  shi|)  of  tiie  line  Delaware— her  c  rew  deprived  of  liberty — lewd  . 
women  allowe<i  on  btjard  in  lieu  thereof,  and  ilie  innnoral  tendeu'  y  of 
the  latter — the  seamen  of  the  Java  on  their  arrival  in  the  United 
Stat  s— the  immense  issues  made  by  the  purser  to  ihe  cnvv — the  profits 
of  tlie  purser  of  tlie  Delaware— purser's  clerk,  steward,  &c. 

CHAPTER    IV.  — Page  28. 

Slop  clothing  furnished  by  the  government— the  losses  thereon  — its 
iiselesrfiiess  from  being  badly  made,  ba<!ly  cut.  and  bad  materials — 
Mecessiiy  of  purchasing  private  goods  from  the  purser,  and  the  sacri- 
fices made  by  green  lia-nds  to  have  them  made  up — navy  commissioners 
to  blame  for  slop  clothing  being  unsuitable— remarks  on  that  subject — 
the  North  Carolina's  pay  bill— total  credit  balauce^due,  and  purser's 
profits  estimated. 


VI  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    v.  — P^^e35. 

Naval  ration — when  regulated  by  law— changes  since  that  time  in 
public  feelino^  with  regard  to  spirits — evil  tendency  of  the  ration,  by 
encouraging  drunkenness — mistaken  idea  respecting  seamen  shipping 
for  s^rog — injury  to  seamen  from  not  receiving  small  stores — pay  of 
seamen  in  the  navy  compared  with  that  of  the  merchant  service — 
hints  respecting  the  ration — want  of  seamen  caused  by  the  present 
system,  and  benefit  likely  to  be  derived  from  remodeling  the  ration 
and  discontinuing  spirits. 

CHAPTER    VI.  — Page  U. 

Want  of  native  seamen — to  the  extent  that  it  proceeds— abuses 
respecting  protections,  and  the  neglect  of  Custom  House  officers  with 
regard  to  examining  into  the  abuses— leaving  seamen  abroad — reasons 
for  not  taking  apprentices  in  the  merchant  service — benefit  likely  to 
be  derived  from  taking  apprentices,  and  plan  for  the  same — seamen 
of  the  navy,  how  instructed  in  their  duty — false  statements  made  by 
former  secretaries  of  the  navy  respecting  the  popularity  of  the  navy 
with  seamen,  and  the  injury  which  has  arisen  therefrom. 

CHAPTER    Y  II.  —  Page  b3, 

England's  plan  for  raising  seamen  for  her  navy — France — her  laws 
respecting  the  same — neglect  of  the  U.  S.  government  towards  this  use- 
ful class  of  men,  and  the  ruinous  consequences  to  the  navy  and  mer- 
chants— apprentices  in  English  vessels,  and  advantage  arising  from 
having  men  and  officers  educated  together,  and  from  being  citizens 
of  the  same  place — ^school  ships  in  the  river  Thames — hospital  fund — 
ignorance  of  seamen — appeal  to  Congress — bounty  given  to  seamen 
in  the  navy — its  uselessness — deplorable  state  of  the  navy  from  tlifi 
ignorance  of  secretaries — advice  to  Mr.  Paulding. 

CHAPTER    VIII.  — Page  62. 

The  ship  Olympia,  of  New  Orleans — ^conduct  of  her  officers — for- 
eigners— reasons  of  their  obsequiousness — ^affray  in  Port  Mahon — beat- 
ing sailors,  and  driving  them  on  shore  in  foreign  ports — tobacco  found 
on  board  the  Olympia — result— shipping  men — arbitraiy  dispositioa 
of  the  mate,  and  a  Dutchman's  appeal  to  the  captain — a  man  beat  with 
a  heavy  belaying  pin — no  redress  in  New  Orleans — injury  to  merchants 
and  ship  owners,  from  the  bad  treatment  of  seamen. 

CHAPTER    IX.  —  Pagc72. 

Brig  Charles  Joseph,  of  Providence — apparent  kindness  of  the  cap- 
tain— its  fallacy  proved — flogging  a  seaman — cause  thereof— remon- 
strance of  the  crew  unheeded — provisions — means  of  annoyance  used 
to  punish  the  crew,  who  are  driven  on  shore  in  Leghorn — character 
of  those  shipped  iu  their  stead— the  captain's  penuriousness— digression 


CONTENTS.  VII 

— impropriety  of  not  having  a  law  to  regulate  the  ration  in  the  mer- 
chant service — the  present  law  misconstrued. 

CPIAPTER    X.  — P«o-e82. 

Rules  and  regulations  for  the  navy — errors  therein,  and  misrepre- 
sentation— conduct  of  the  department  in  investigating  complaints — 
two  courts  martial — articles  3d,  15th,  and  30th,  of  the  navy  rules — how 
violated— the  U.  S.  ship  Fairfield— cruelty  and  oppression  of  her  offi- 
cers— punishment  hy  Lieut.  H — m — r — his  death  and  burial — cause 
thereof— Jimmy  Leggs — his  villainy  and  power — his  death — disj:ating 
officers  contrary  to  law— two  officers  turned  on  shore  from  the  St. 
Louis,  by  orders  from  M.  Dickinson,  secretary  of  the  navy. 

CHAPTER    XI.  — Page  97. 

Flogging  on  board  the  Fairfield,  seen  fi'om  the  Delaware's  tops,  and 
the  cause — purser  and  first  lieutenant  at  loggerheads — subsequent  con^ 
duct  of  the  first  lieutenant — crew  allowed  to  draw  articles  from  the 
pui*ser  without  limitation — bright  work — the  U.  S.  ship  Lexington, 

Capt.  D -n — instances  of  unjust  punishment — Wm.  Mclntire — his 

death — Lt.  St gs — his  ignorance — Captain  D n  instructs  him 

how  to  take  in  sail — liberty  given  the  crew  for  ninety -nine  years — 
Captain  McKeever  lakes  the  ship — his  kindness. 

CHAPTER    XII.  — Pfl^c  108. 

The  United  States  ship  Delaware  taken  out  by  Capt.  Downes — the 
commodore  makes  one  cruise  in  her,  and  joins  the  Fairfield — the 
treaty  with  the  Turks  concluded  by  Commodore  Biddle— digression — 
expenses  of  the  Delaware,  while  laying  in  Mahon— injury  to  junior 
officers,  from  that  cause — the  crew  deprived  of  liberty,  and  abused — 
the  consequences— the  commodore's  conduct  in  Carthagena — his  or- 
ders, and  reserved  habits — his  treatment  of  Commodore  Staines — the 
Warren — conduct  of  the  captain  and  officers — kindness  of  Lieut, 
Junius  J.  Boyle. 

CHAPTER    XII  l.  —  Page  122. 

Receiving  ships — what  they  ought  to  be— Hudson — Columbus — 

Congress — The  Java,  and   Lieut.  S r — his  drunkenness,  abuse, 

tyranny,  and  oppression — lines  written  to  him — Lewis  and  Lieut. 
S Y  &  Co. — Scandal — Lieut.  S r — his  character — his  bad  ex- 
ample to  junior  officers — slaves  held  on  board  the  Java,  contrary  to 
law,  and  their  masters  receiving  their  pay. 

CHAPTER    XI  v.  — Page  128. 

Flogging  seamen  in  the  navy  and  merchant  service — injury  there- 
from in  the  latter — difference  between  English  and  American  laws  re- 
specting seamen — want  of  redress  for  common  sailors  who  have  beea 


VlH  CQNTENl'S. 

maltreated  and  abused — whalers — their  want  of  seamen — their  adver 
tisements — youn^  men's  prospects  Avho  ship  in  then^ — number  of  sea- 
men confined  in  Boston  jail  previous  to  the  15ih  of  May,  1839,  and  for 
what  cause — crew  of  the  Shylock — their  wrongs,  trial,  acquittal,  and 
recovery  of  their  wages. 

CHAPTER    XV. --Page  IZ7. 

Crew  of  the  Halcyon  as  witneFses  njGjainst  the  mate — his  conviciion 
and  ()aUry  punishment — crew  of  the  Octavia  liberated  witliout  trial — 
crew  of  the  Orientis  imprisoned  in  Pernanihufo — ilieir  treatment — 
two  of  them  sent  on  board  the  Effort — oneot  tht^m  maltreated,  carried 
on  shore  and  left — the  treatment  of  the  other — Captain  Nichols  and 
Wm.  Couch  found  guilty  of  cruelty  resulting  in  death — Judge  Story's 
sentence — article  from  the  Boston  Morning  Post. 

CHAPTER    XVI.  —  Page  148. 

Great  care  requisite  in  the  selection  of  officers  for  the  merchant 
service — probable  lo^^ses  from  their  ignorance— ignorance  of  seamen 
— efforts  of  individuals  to  improve  their  condition — fissistance  required 
from  the  general  government  — seamen  on  the  lakes  compared  with 
those  on  our  sea  board— education— want  thereof ~[)roposals  to  effect 
that  object — want  of  teachers  for  seamen  of  the  navy. 

CHAPTER    XVII.  — P^o^c  158. 

*•  Degradation  of  seamen" — subscriptions— want  of  a  library  for  the 
crews  of  ships  of  war  and  merchant  vessels — San<lvvich  islanders-^ 
their  supply  of  books — the  navy  slush  fund — its  mal  appropriation — 
books  and  education  provided  for  by  hunting  up  and  applying  the  hos- 
pital fund— abuse  respecting  it  and  its  estimated  amount — naval  hos- 
pitals and  medical  department  of  ships  in  the  navy. 

CHAPTER    XVIII  .  —  Page  169. 

Promotion  for  privates  in  the  navy — masters'  mates — duties  of  passed 
midshipmen— second  masters  and  passed  midshipmen,  different  from 
each  other — conduct  of  the  navy  department  with  regard  to  promo- 
tion—leaving seamen  in  foreign  jails — Havana — the  conduct  of  our 
consul  there — two  men  of  the  Con>tellation~their  sufferings  — remarks 
on  the  want  of  laws  to  protect  seamen  from  outrages— letters  from  the 
Boston  Atlas — popularity  in  the  navy,  and  reasons  for  publishing  this 
work. 

CHAPTER    XI  X  .-  Prto-c  183. 

Court  martial — charges— conduct  of  the  court — witnesses — John 
Beggs — his  character  and  testimony — advice  to  John  B — d — e  —  kind- 
jiess  of  Commodore  A.  J.  Dallas  and  Lt.  Henry  A.  Adams— remai'ks 
and  conclusion. 


EVILS  AND   ABUSES  IN  THE 
NAVAL  AND  MERCHANT   SERVICE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Navy  pay  bill — warrant,  or  Tor'wer»l  offtrers,  hovv  jieglected — theit 
limited  number  and  constant  servic  e^difforence  Between  the  propor* 
tional  number  of  commissioned  and  warranted  clPvC^rs<— tUe  pay  of  the 
latter  in  different  class  ships,  and  injusiico  <Jier<?)i>>--r-.ihelV  warrants 
withheld  and  acting  appointments  given  them — cause  thereof— admirals 
in  the  navy — difference  made  by  the  Navy  Department  between  a 
post  captain's  lady  and  forward  officer's  wife  with  regard  to  pensions. 

The  pay  bill,  fixing  the  pay  of  the  officers  of  the  navy, 
after  much  discussion  and  amendment,  was  passed  at  the  session 
of  1S34  and  5.  From  the  investigations  and  liberal  views  of 
Congress  at  that  time  with  respect  to  this  arm  of  national 
(Jefence,  our  citizens  may  be  led  to  suppose  that  all  the  officers 
of  the  navy  are  well  paid,  and  handsomely  provided  for.  This 
is  not  the  case.  There  is  one  class  who  as  the  greater  number 
of  them  are  without  influential  friends,  whose  influence  could 
have  availed  them  at  that  time,  and  who  have  by  superiority  in 
their  profession,  and  moral  character,  arisen  from  the  rank  of 
seamen  to  fill  the  stations  they  now  hold  ;  a  passing  notice  of 
the  great  injustice  done  them,  may  not  be  amiss  here,  before 
proceeding  to  the  subject  as  connected  with  seamen,  petty- 
officers,  &;c. 

The  boatswains,  gunners,  carpenters,  and  sailmakers  are 
usually  denominated  forward  officers.  The  boatswains  and 
I 


2  EVILS  AND  A.BUSES  IN  THE 

gunners  are  men  who  have  (before  attaining  that  rank)  served" 
their  country  for  a  long  time  in  subordinate  stations,  as  seamen, 
petty  officers,  &c.,  and  are  selected  to  fill  these  stations  by 
their  thorough,  and  superior  knowledge  of  their  profession. 
In  the  selection  of  these  men,  political  influence  can  do  nothing 
in  procuring  them  their  appointments.  They  are  selected  and 
recommended  by  their  commanders  for  promotion,  and  who  of 
course,  during  three  years  or  more  ought  to  be  pretty  well 
acquainted  with  their  characters  and  abihties.  The  carpenters 
^nd  sailmakers  are  men  who  are  perfect  masters  of  their  trade ; 
the  former  must  be  fully  acquainted  with  the  whole  art  of  a 
ship  carpenter  and  ship  joiner.  The  latter  must  be  able  to  cut 
and  make  any  sail,  for  any  class  of  vessels,  and  in  addition  to 
these  they  must  be  men  of  character  and  respectability.  The 
carpenters  and  sailmakers  are  generally  men,  who  forego  all 
the  advantages  c that  wpuld  be  .derived  from  excellence,  and 
superiority  iu'tlie'ir  bjjsitiefes  br^  sho^e,  which  if  followed  up 
there,  might  have .  yielded  thenJ  wealth  and  influence,  but 
these  are  lest 'ty  entering  the 'navy.  The  forward  officers 
are  in  fact  the  most  efficient  officers  in  a  ship.  They  are 
nearly  always  on  duty.  A  commissioned  officer  may  be  on 
leave  of  absence,  or  waiting  orders,  for  one  or  two  years,  but 
who  ever  heard  of  a  forward  officer,  unless  sick  or  disabled, 
being  off  duty  more  than  a  few  months,  very  seldom  more  than 
three,  after  a  three  years'  cruise,  and  then  off  to  sea  again,  for 
another  period  of  similar  duration.  Their  limited  number  in 
fact  prevents  anything  else  being  the  case ;  but  why  are  their 
numbers  so  limited?  Simply  because  the  department  will  not 
appoint  more  ;  it  (as  in  many  other  branches  of  our  govern- 
ment) saves  at  the  spicket  and  loses  at  the  bung.  There 
was  at  the  commencement  of  the  present  year,  in  the  navy, 
thirty-two  boatswains,  thirty-five  gunners,  twenty-seven  carpen- 
ters, and  twenty-six  sailmakers.  Of  these  there  were  on  board 
of  ships  in  commission  and  navy  yards,  twenty-nine  boatswains, 
twenty-eight  gunners,  twenty-one  carpenters,  and  eighteen  sail- 
makers. Leaving  sick,  waiting  orders,  and  on  leave  of  absence, 
only  three  boatswains,  seven  gunners,  six  carpenters,  and  eight 
sailmakers,  a  number  by  no  means  sufficient  for  the  wants  of 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  3 

the  navy  or  to  relieve  those  who  may  return  from  a  long  cruise, 
worn  out  with  fatigue  and  sickness.  Agreeable  to  the  navy 
register  for  1839,  there  is  in  all  one  hundred  and  twenty  boat- 
swains, gunners,  carpenters  and  sailmakers,  ninety-six  of  whom 
are  on  duty.  There  are  three  hundred  and  ninety-two  post  cap- 
tains, commanders,  and  lieutenants  in  all,  two  hundred  and  one  of 
whom  are  on  duty.  By  this  it  will  be  seen  that  four-fifths  of  the 
warrant  officers  are  on  duty,  and  only  a  very  little  more  than  one 
half  of  those  that  are  commissioned.  But  this  comparison 
must  not  be  considered  as  tending  to  prove  that  we  have  too 
many  of  the  latter  grade.  On  the  contrary,  we  have  not  a 
sufficient  number  to  officer  all  our  vessels ;  but  it  will  clearly 
prove  that  we  have  too  few  of  the  former ;  and  it  is  as  neces- 
sary that  we  should  have  a  requisite  number  of  the  one,  as  the 
other,  for  when  the  services  of  a  greater  number  are  required, 
they  cannot  be  taught  their  duty  in  one  day.  It  has  never  been 
taken  into  consideration  that  the  greater  number  of  the  for- 
ward officers  have  families,  and  as  reasonably  might  be  ex- 
pected, wish  to  spend  a  part  of  their  time  with  them.  No, 
let  them  go  to  sea  for  four  or  five  cruises  in  succession,  wear 
themselves  out  in  the  public  service,  and  as  a  recompense, 
look  in  tlie  decline  of  life  to  the  gratitude  of  their  country,  in 
the  shape  of  small  pay  in  a  navy  pard  or  three  hundred  and 
sixty  dollars  a  year  on  leave  of  absence.  This,  fellow  citizens, 
is  the  gratitude  of  the  American  Republic,  to  those  who  have 
grown  grey  and  worn  themselves  out  in  the  public  service, 
and  who  have  been  ever  ready  to  defend  your  firesides,  and 
who  have  so  ably  protected  your  commerce,  the  source  of  so 
much  wealth  to  your  country.  This  is  not  mere  assertion ; 
look  at  facts.  IMr.  McN.  the  boatswain,  and  Mr.  C.  the  gun- 
ner of  Charlestown  navy  yard,  are  only  receiving  ^500  in  full 
of  pay  and  rations.  These  men  have  both  been  in  the  navy 
since  the  commencement  of,  or  before  the  last  war  with  Great 
Britain.  The  former  is  allowed  by  all  to  be  the  most  perfect 
practical  seaman  that  we  have  ever  had  in  the  navy,  and  the 
latter  was  chief  mate  of  the  ship  that  brought  General  Moreau 
from  Cadiz  to  Philadelphia  when  banished  from  France  by- 
Napoleon,  is  a  well  informed  man,  and  perfect  gentleman. 


4  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

Had  he  remained  in  the  naerchant  service,  his  merit  would  soon 
have  procured  him  a  command,  and  long  ere  this  he  might 
have  realized  enough  to  have  kept  him  comfortable  in  the 
decline  of  life,  without  being  dependent  on  the  scanty  pittance 
allowed  him  in  the  navy. 

I  hope  those  gentlemen  will  excuse  the  liberty  that  I  have 
taken  with  them.  I  am,  and  shall  be  compelled  to  make  such 
allusions  in  regard  to  this  and  other  subjects  in  order  to  prove 
that  these  are  facts,  and  not  idle  declamation.  These  and 
other  instances  will  serve  to  show  how  these  men  and  seamen 
suffer  from  not  having  friends  to  represent  their  case  to  the 
public,  and  consequently  a  want  of  proper  representation  of 
their  case  in  the  national  legislature.  How  far  this  may  go  in 
bringing  the  foul  injustice  done  them  before  the  public,  1  will 
not  attempt  to  predict,  but  I  could  not  let  this  opportunity  slip 
without  representing  their  case  to  their  fellow  citizens.  The 
pay  bill  fixed  the  pay  of  boatswains,  gunners,  carpenters  and 
sailmakers  as  follows  : 

When  serving  on  board  a  ship  of  the  line  $750  pe?  annum, 

''        **  "  frigate  600   " 

All  other  duty  500    '<         '' 

Qn  leave  of  absence  or  waiting  orders  3G0    '*        " 

All  Other  duty  includes  navy  yards,  and  the  law  moreover 
states  that  "  one  ration  per  day  only,  shall  be  allowed  to  all 
officers  attached  to  vessels  for  sea  service."  Now  in  a  navy 
yard  the  officers  are  not  allowed  a  ration  which  is  valued  at  20 
cents  per  day,  but  at  sea  they  are,  by  which  it  is  evident  that 
the  officer  of  this  grade,  who  is  serving  in  a  ship  of  the  line, 
who  was  appointed  as  it  were  yesterday,  receives  in  all  t^SSS, 
being  ^323  per  annum  more  than  the  old  faithful  servant  who 
from  long  servitude,  is  unable  to  attend  to  duty  on  board  of  a 
ship  in  active  service.  Could  the  highest  pay  be  always 
given  to  the  oldest  and  most  deserving,  as  no  doubt  was  the 
intention  of  Congress  when  the  law  was  passed,  the  case  would 
be  different,  but,  at  present,  it  is  a  manifest  wrong.  When  th© 
department  wants  to  order  these  officers  to  ships  for  sea  service- 
there  is  the  leave  of  absence  or  waiting  orders  list.  Select  on© 
ftoai  then);  send  him  orders,  oii  the  receipt  of  wbich^  he  vam\ 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  O 

hasten  to  obey,  and  leave  country  and  friends  without  a  mur- 
mur. In  fact  there  are  so  few,  as  has  been  shown,  of  this 
grade,  that  no  other  method  can  be  pursued,  and  the  depart- 
ment will  not  appoint  more. 

Another  species  of  oppression  has  lately  been  put  in  force 
at  the  department.  These  officers  are  not  warranted  by  the 
president  as  formerly,  but  must  be  satisfied  with  acting  appoint- 
ments from  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy.  The  cause  of  this 
may  be  explained  by  the  department,  but  I  have  never  as  yet 
heard  any  reason  for  not  giving  these  officers  warrants  signed 
by  the  President  of  the  United  States,  and  can  attribute  it  to 
no  other  than  a  wish  to  keep  them  more  dependant  on  superi- 
ors, or  those  in  office. 

Many  attempts  have  been  made  to  create  admirals  in  our 
navy,  and  there  should  be,  to  entitle  it  to  respect  abroad,  and 
procure  for  its  superior  officers  the  etiquette  and  rank  that  those 
of  other  nations  receive.  But  it  may  be  relied  upon  that  no 
member  of  Congress  will  ever  vote  in  favor  of  the  admiral 
bill,  when  he  knows  that  forward  officers  are  withheld  their 
warrants.  The  same  reason  that  kept  the  pay  bill  so  long  back 
will  ruin  this.  The  superiors  wished  to  have  their  pay  in- 
creased without  any  reference  to  the  inferiors.  The  veil  that 
is  thrown  over  the  admiral  bill  is  equally  flimsy,  and  when 
drawn  aside  discovers  the  same  latent  disposition  of  the  other. 

T  would  ask  whether  or  not  the  duty  of  a  boatswain,  gunner, 

carpenter,  or  sailmaker  is  not  as  arduous  as  that  of  a  passed 

midshipman?  have  they  not  as  much  responsibility  ?  must  they 

not  dress  as  gentlemen  ?  have  they  not  to  leave  their  home  and 

families?  and  why  should  they  have  less   pay?  they  are  not 

entitled  to  promotion,  tlie  others  are.     A   passed  midshipman 

has  not  too  much  pay,  but  why  should  a  forward  officer  have 

less  ?     The  ruin  of  this  grade  is  that  commanders  are  allowed 

to  appoint  Tom,  Dick,  and  Harry  to  fill  these  stations,  when  the 

department  fails  to  order  a  boatswain  or  gunner  to  a  vessel  when 

she  fits  out.     The  department  very  often  has  none  of  these 

officers  to  order.     What  must  our  citizens  think  when  they  are 

told  that  we  have  not  officers  enough  of  every  grade  to  order 

to  the  few  ships  that  we  keep  in  commission  for  the  protection 
1# 


O  EVILS   AND    ABUSES    IN    TSC 

of  our  comnfierce.  In  case  of  a  war,  what  are  we  to  do?  , 
these  officers  will  not  spring  up  like  mushrooms  in  a  night. 
Then,  and  not  until  then,  will  our  citizens  see  the  pernicious 
effects  of  keeping  well  earned  promotion  from  those  who  ought 
to  be  appointed  to  fill  those  stations,  when  it  can  be  done  at  so 
paltry  an  expense,  as  would  leave  those  who  are  acquainted 
with  the  subject  to  wonder  at  the  apathy  of  the  department 
on  a  matter  of  so  much  consequence.  When  men  are  tem- 
porarily appointed  to  the  rank  of  boatswain  or  gunner,  no  more 
is  expected  from  them  than  the  common  conduct  of  seamen^ 
viz.  dissipation  and  folly,  and  they  may  be  turned  adrift  when- 
ever it  suits  the  whim  of  those  who  appointed  them.  This 
operates  against  the  deserving  and  good  to  a  considerable 
extent.  For  admirals  we  could  copy  a  precedent  from  Eng- 
land and  other  European  powers.  Let  us  do  so  in  this  respect 
also,  it  will  hold  equally  good  in  both  cases.  The  oldest  war- 
rant officers  in  the  British  navy  have  the  largest  ships,  and  the 
highest  pay,  and  when  they  are  on  leave  their  pay  is  in  pro- 
portion to  the  size  of  the  ship  in  which  they  last  served,  or  to 
which  they  may  be  entitled,  and  all  are  warranted  by  the 
Admiralty.  Of  one  hundred  and  twenty  boatswains,  gunners,, 
carpenters  and  sailmakers  in  our  navy,  only  fifty-two  are  war- 
ranted, making  sixty-eiglit  under  acting  appointments.  By 
article  thirty-three  of  the  Navy  Regulations,  '^  all  officers  not 
holding  commissions  or  warrants,  or  who  are  not  entitled  to 
them,  are  deemed  petty  officers."  Thus  it  appears  that  these 
sixty-eight  are  to  perform  the  duty  of  officers,  and  only  receive 
the  respect  due  to  petty  officers.  If  it  is  said  that  these  officers 
are  entitled  to  warrants  let  me  ask  why  they  do  not  receive 
them  ?     Such  injustice  smells  rank  to  heaven. 

Members  of  Congress  are  ignorant  of  these  matters,  but  the 
Secretary  of  the  Navy  is  not,,  or  should  not  be,  and  such  acts 
of  injustice  ought  to  be  made  known  to  the  public,  who  must, 
in  a  country  like  ours,,  feel  a  deep  hiterest  in  the  welfare  of 
the  navy.  The  present  head  of  the  navy  department  I  do  not 
know,  except  as  a  talented  writer,  but  it  is  to  be  hoped  that 
such  alterations  as  he  can  he  will  make,  and  not  follow  in  the 
"  steps  of  his  illustrious  predecessocv"     It  has  often  been  a 


NATAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  7 

matter  of  surprise  to  me  why  any  difference  should  be  made  in 
the  pay  of  this  class  of  officers  in  different  class  ships.  There 
are  no  more  ropes,  rigging,  sails,  &c.  on  board  of  a  ship  of  the 
luie,  than  on  board  a  sloop  of  war.  They  may  be  larger,  it  is 
true,  but  therein  alone  consists  the  difference.  There  may  be 
more  guns,  but  the  gunner  has  more  men  to  attend  to  them, 
and  just  so  in  everything  else.  A  man  who  is  qualified  for  a 
forward  officer  on  board  of  a  sloop  of  war  is  capable  of  filling 
the  same  station  on  board  of  a  ship  of  the  line ;  in  fact  the 
larger  the  ship,  the  better  accommodations  there,  and  there  is 
not  one  of  this  grade  who  would  not  rather  do  duty  on  board 
of  a  frigate,  or  larger  ship,  in  preference  to  a  schooner  or  sloop 
of  war:  for  in  the  latter  it  is  often  necessary  that  a  forward 
officer  should  put  his  own  hands  to  a  joh,  whereas  on  board  of 
a  large  ship  such  a  thing  is  unknown.  The  duties  of  these 
officers  in  navy  yards  are  very  complicated,  and  they  must 
attend  from  sunrise  to  sunset,  the  same  as  common  laborers. 
It,  will  naturally  be  asked  why  these  facts  were  not  stated  to 
Congress  during  the  passage  of  the  bill  ?  Simply  because 
these  men  had  no  delegate  or  political  friends,  or  influence,  at 
the  seat  of  government.  Not  so  with  all  others.  There  are 
very  few,  if  any,  of  the  other  officers  of  the  navy  but  what 
had  relatives  or  personal  friends  who  took  care  that  their 
interests  should  not  be  neglected.  But  the  forward  officers  are 
partly  seamen,  and  there  appears  to  be  an  apathy  towards  that 
useful,  but  neglected  class  of  men,  which  cannot  be  accounted 
for  reasonably.* 

How  will  the  citizens  of  this  enlightened  republic  be  aston- 

*  When  Congress  met  last  session  the  forward  officers  selected  one  of 
their  number  to  go  to  Washington  and  endeavor  to  have  the  \)diy  bill  equal- 
ized. This  person  accordingly  went  and  remained  there  during  the  whole 
session,  without  being  successful  in  his  mission.  His  expenses  were  paid 
by  his  brother  officers;  but  the  air  of  the  capitol  appeared  to  have  a  won- 
derful effect  upon  him.  While  there  he  learned  that  a  man  by  mindinar 
his  own  business  may  make  his  fortune  ;  at  all  events  he  mana^red  to  ex- 
change his  C — p — r's  warrant  for  a  second  lieutenant's  commission  in  the 
marine  corps.     His  commission  will  not  bring  him  a  much  greater  salary 

than  his  former  warrant,,  but  some  men  have  little  minds,  and  Wm.  L 

can  now  mess  with  the  wardroom  officers,  and  sport  a  green  coat,  instead 
of  his  former  blue  one  ;  but  if  he  is  no  better  at  dressing  off  a  marine  guard 
than  he  was  at  dressing  a  spar,  or  if  he  cannot  form  a  better  line  wiUi  the 


8  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

ished  when  they  know  that  the  injustice  that  these  men  suffer 
when  ahve,  is  continued  to  their  wives  and  offspring  after  the 
grave  has  closed  over  them,  but  such  is  the  fact,  although  I 
blush  to  confess  that  such  could  be  the  case  in  a  country  like 
ours. 

When  the  late  Commodore  John  D.  Henley  died,  w^hile  in 
the  command  of  the  West  India  squadron,  the  Secretary  of 
the  Navy,  as  the  deceased  was  a  Commodore,  thought  the 
case  of  sufficient  importance  to  lay  before  Congress,  to  know 
whether  or  not  the  widow  of  the  deceased  was  to  be  entitled  to 
a  pension  amounting  to  one  half  of  his  full,  or  one  half  of  his 
leave  of  absence  pay.  Congress  decided  that  she  should  be 
entitled  to  one  half  of  the  latter.  Now  here  was  a  decision 
which  ought  to  govern  the  department  in  regard  to  similar 
claims  of  the  widows  or  children  of  other  officers  ;  and  let  us 
see  how  far  it  has  acted  in  compliance  with  the  decision  of 
Congress  in  other  cases.  If  a  forward  officer  dies,  the  depart- 
ment thini^s  proper  only  to  grant  the  widow,  or  children,  one 
half  of  what  his  pay  was  previous  to  the  late  pay  bill  being 
passed,  which  w^as  only  twenty  dollars  per  month,  exclusive  of 
rations ;  and  one  half  of  this  is  granted  as  a  pension,  that  is, 
ten  dollars  per  month,  whereas  one  half  of  his  leavfe  of  absence 
pay  under  the  present  law  would  be  fifteen  dollars  per  month, 
and  which  sum  the  widow  or  children  of  a  forward  oficer  is 
equally  as  much  entitled  to  as  the  lady  of  Commodore  Henley, 
Here  the  citizen  may  see  how  those  who  are  in  office  dare  to 
violate  every  principle  of  right  and  justice,  dare  to  deprive  the 
orphan,  or  widow  of  the  forward  officer  of  bread  to  eat,  and  a 
house  to  put  their  heads  in,  by  withholding  from  iheai  one- 
third  of  what  they  are  entitled  to  by  law* 

marines  than  he  could  in  lining  off  in  a  mould  loft  he  will  not  be  any  oreat 
acquisition  to  the  corps.  He  may  now  associate  with  the  viidcHeSj  for  of 
their  company  he  used  to  be  very  fond ;  but  he  may  now  forsake  them  for 
something  higher,  as  he  did  his  brother  officers,  for  their  society  when  he 
was  a  c — p — r.  Long  may  he  wear  his  laurels.  If  his  present  brother 
officers  consider  him  no  greater  gain  than  vhe  forward  officers  did  his  loss ; 
there  will  only  be  a  cypher  added  to  their  number.  He  may  find  some  of 
the  marine  officers  who  look  upon  his  manner  of  getting  among  them,  in 
pretty  much  the  same  light  that  the  forward  officers  do  upon  his  manner  of 
leaving  them. 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  9 

What  a  precious  thing  is  office,  get  into  possession  and  you 
may  trample  your  fellow  men  into  the  dust,  keep  their  rights 
from  them,  and  they  must  submit  to  the  decree  in  silence. 
Take  a  navy  register  and  you  may  find  that  one  of  these  so 
trampled  on  may  have  joined  the  service  twenty  or  twenty -five 
years  ago,  in  which  he  has  been  ever  since,  and  look  at  his 
oppressor,  his  name  is  new  to  the  world,  he  was  never  known 
beyond  the  circle  of  his  own  friends  until  he  became  the  leader 
of  a  political  party.  I  would  not  have  it  understood  that  I 
wish  to  cast  the  smallest  reflection  on  the  present  secretary  ;  I 
hope,  and  believe  him  to  be  too  good  a  man  to  trample  on  the 
rights  of  another,  but  there  are  certain  usages  at  the  depart- 
ment w^hich  he  must  break  through,  or  his  name  will  share  the 
same  fate  of  his  predecessors.  1  cannot  close  this  article  with- 
out pointing  out  a  circumstance  to  show  the  difference  between 
precept  and  example.  When  Commodore  Downes  took  the 
command  of  the  U.  S.  frigate  Potomac,  a  part  of  his  instruc- 
tions at  that  time  have  since  been  published  in  a  work  entitled 
the  "  Cruise  of  the  Potomac,"  by  Mr.  Reynolds.  In  these 
instructions  the  Commodore  was  directed  by  the  Secretary  of 
the  Navy  to  extend  similar  indulgences  to  all  the  officers  under 
his  command,  without  distinction  as  to  rank.  Oh,  precious 
hypocrisy ;  Commodore  Downes  will  do  injustice  to  none  if  he 
is  aware  of  it,  but  the  Department  can  preach  one  lesson  and 
perform  another,  give  the  widow  of  one  officer  half  of  her 
husband's  pay,  and  another  only  one-third.  How  truly  the 
instructions  from  the  department  to  Commodore  Downes  ful- 
filled the  old  adage,  "  that  we  often  give  a  lesson  to  others  that 
we  cannot  take  to  ourselves." 


10  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 


CHAPTER  II. 

Petty  officers— their  pay  until  1833  ;  then  reduced,  by  whom,  and  for 
what  reasons — the  injustice  of  the  reduction — the  U.  S.  schooner  Ex-_ 
periment— her  qualities — increase  of  our  national  resources  attended 
by  a  reduction  of  petty  officers'  pay — another  alteration  made  in  their 
pay — rating  a  rnan  one  rate  and  making  him  do  another  duty — the  pay 
of  yeomen  in  the  navy  increased — at  whose  suggestion — pay  of  purser's 
stewards  and  seamen — mutiny  in  the  British  navy  at  the  Nore  from 
neglect  to  seamen,  compared  to  our  present  state — a  few  remarks  to 
seamen. 

Petty  Officers  are  the  mechanics,  boatswain's  mates? 
gunner's  crew,  quarter  masters,  master  at  arms,  captains  of  tops, 
forecastle,  &:c.,  &:c. 

The  law  on  the  organization  of  the  navy,  left  the  pay  of 
petty  officers,  seamen,  ordinary  seamen,  he.  to  be  regulated 
by  the  department,  which,  until  1833,  was  as  follows :     ^ 

Gunner's  mates,  $19  per  month. 

Boatswain's  do.  19  '*  " 

Carpenter's  do.  19  *'  " 

Saihnaker's  do.  19  *'  <« 

Quarter  gunners.    18  *^  '^ 

Quartermasters,  18  "  " 

Ship  steward,  18  ''  " 

Yeoman,          .  18  «'  " 

Cooper,            .  18  "  '' 

This  was  the  pay  of  petty  officers,  he.  for  many  years,  but 
a  new  idea  entered  into  the  head  of  the  secretary  or  the  navy 
commissioners,  (which  I  know  not.)  The  latter  had  tried  sev- 
eral expeiimenis ,  such  as  building  the  U.  S.  schooner  Experi- 
ment, and  being  so  successful  in  that,  thought  that  they  must  try 
another  on  the  pay  of  the  petty  officers. 

To  prevent  being  misunderstood  by  the  reader,  I  have  a 
word  to  say  in  relation  to  the  U.  S.  schooner  Experiment. 
She  was  built  at  Washington,  under  the  eyes  of  the  board  of 
commissioners  and  secretary  of  the  navy,  upon  an  entire  new 
plan.  The  use  of  knees  and  timbers  was  voted  superfluous, 
and  she  was  to  have  none.     The  use  of  oakum  was  ditto,  and 


Ship  cook. 

$18  per 

month. 

Master  at  arms, 

18'  *' 

Armourer, 

18    " 

Seamen, 

12    '« 

Ordinary  seamen 

,    10    " 

Landsmen, 

8    *' 

Boys,  1st  class, 

8    " 

"     2nd   "    . 

G    " 

NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  11 

to  encourage  home  produce,  she  was  caulked  with  cotton  and 
pegs.  No  grog  was  to  be  served  to  her  crew,  which  was  the 
only  good  experiment  of  the  whole ;  but  as  they  had  hit  on  a 
^ood  experiment  there,  it  was  soon  fell  through,  and  grog  was 
served  to  the  crew.  Her  model  was  entirely  different  from  all 
other  vessels  that  I  have  ever  seen.  She  much  resembled  that 
useful  article  known  amongst  seamen  by  the  title  of  serving 
mallet,  by  which  name  she  was  well  known  on  the  West  India 
station.  The  first  mishap  that  she  met  with  was,  in  firing  a 
salute  on  her  arrival  at  Norfolk,  Va.  The  concussion  shook 
her  so  that  the  cotton  and  pegs  started  from  her  sides,  and 
she  had  to  be  caulked  with  oakum,  to  the  manifest  injury  of 
the  cotton  planters.  I  do  not  remember  how  many  days  she 
was  on  her  passage  to  Pensacola,  but  she  made  a  passage  from 
Havana  to  that  port  in  twenty-five  days.  A  washing  tu'b  would 
have  made  it  in  a  shorter  time,  but  she  w^as  an  experiment. 
Yet  she  was  not  a  dead  loss  to  the  good  people  of  the  United 
States,  fop  in  consequence  of  her  unfitness  to  cruise  about  on 
the  ocean  she  was  kept  laying  in  Pensacola,  and  saved  the  ex- 
pense of  rigging  a  flag-staff  at  the  commander's  house  to  hoist 
his  broad  pendant  on  when  the  rest  of  the  squadron  were  on  a 
cruise.  When  she  wanted  a  supply  of  beef,  bread,  or  wood, 
she  would  go  as  far  as  the  navy  yard,  which  was  an  occurrence 
always  duly  noted  in  the  Pensacola  Gazette,  and  a  superannu- 
ated land  crab  would  have  beat  her  on  the  race  from  the  navy 
yard  to  the  town.  The  Experiment  was  finally  sent  home, 
and  on  the  passage  she  proved  that  she  had  one  good  quality, 
at  least,  she  lost  her  rudder  while  laying  to  in  a  gale,  and  none 
were  aware  of  the  fact  until  it  abated.  The  Experiment  was 
so  admirably  constructed  that  she  lay  to,  broad  side  on,  like  a 
crabb,  as  well  without  as  with  a  rudder.  Every  naval  officer 
has  reason  to  be  proud  that  she  never  was  exhibited  in  any 
foreign  port  but  Havana,  so  that  few  are  aware  of  her  exist- 
ence. She  is  now  employed  on  the  survey  of  the  coast,  and 
may  answer  for  that  purpose,  if  for  no  other.  But  to  resume. 
There  are  in  all  vessels  of  war,  in  each  top  and  on  the 
forecastle,  men  who  are  denominated  first  and  second  captains, 
that  is  one  first,  and  one  second  captain  in  each  watch.     It 


12  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN   Tfetfi 

was  concluded  at  Washington,  that  these  men,  who  are  reck* 
oned  the  best  in  a  ship>  (after  the  petty  officers)  ought  to  have 
more  pay,  which  was  very  reasonable  and  just ;  as  in  case  of 
anything  going  wrong,  or  foul,  during  any  evolution,  these  men 
are  called  and  have  to  answer  for  any  mistakes  that  are  made 
at  their  respective  stations,  and  often  are  answerable  for  the 
acts  of  others.  It  was  thought  proper  that  they  should  have 
more  pay,  and  as  ideas  were  crowding  thick  upon  the  brain  of 
the  discoverer,  it  was  also  deemed  that  the  others  had  too 
much,  and  in  order  to  create  no  additional  expense,  it  was 
decided  that  the  pay  of  the  petty  officei-s  should  be  as  fol* 
lows : 

Quarter  masters,  $16  per  month.  1st  captains  of  the  mizen  top 
Quarter  gunner,      15   '*          "  14  per  month. 

Yeomen,  .         15   "         /'  1st  captains  of  the  forecastle 

1st  captains  of  the  fore  and  main  15  per  month. 

top,     .        .        15  per  month.  2nd  captains  of  the  forecastle 
2nd  captains  of  the  fore  and  main  14  per  month. 

top,      .         .         14  per  month. 

These  were  the  alterations  made  in  the  pay  of  petty 
officers,  and  pursers  were  directed  to  pay  them  accordingly. 
From  the  time  of  the  war  until  1833,  the  pay  of  petty  officers 
had  been  eighteen  and  nineteen  dollars  per  month,  according 
to  their  rates.  During  this  time  our  commerce  had  trebled 
under  the  protection  afforded  to  it  by  the  navy,  and  a  long 
uninterrupted  peace.  Our  country,  during  this  time,  had  risen 
to  the  first  rank  amongst  the  nations  of  the  earth,  to  a  rank 
unparalleled  in  the  history  of  any  republic  ;  her  progress  in  the 
arts  and  sciences,  agriculture,  and  manufactures,  astonished  the 
world.  Her  flag  floated  in  every  sea.  Her  national  debt  was 
extinguished,  and  the  treasury  overflowing  with  surplus  revenue* 
Her  gallant  little  navy  had  gained  itself  an  honorable  name  in 
our  struggle  with  the  greatest  maratime  nation  in  the  worli 
The  navy  that  had  done  this,  that  had  filled  the  brightest  page 
in  the  proud  annals  of  our  land  with  its  deeds,  was  after  the 
peace  employed  protecting  our  commerce — which  was  making 
our  merchants  princes,  and  conferring  wealth  and  happiness  on 
our  citizens  and  country.  So  prosperous  was  the  state  of  our 
country  that  the  surplus  revenue  was  a  bone  of  contention  to 


NAVAL   AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  13 

ihe  different  States.  The  pay  of  the  officers  of  the  navy 
had  been  doubled,  and  shortly  afterwards  trebled.  Seamen 
who  had  fought  the  battles  of  our  country  on  the  ocean,  had 
grown  grey  in  the  service,  had  attained  the  rank  of  petty 
officers,  and  who  were  at  the  bottom  of  our  country's  greatness: 
during  this  prosperous  state  of  things  it  was  found,  by  the 
fertile  minds  of  some  who  had  never,  perhaps,  seen  a  shot 
fired  in  anger  during  their  lives,  that  the  petty  officers  had  all 
this  time  been  receiving  too  much  pay.  Oh  shame !  Oh  my 
country  1  can  it  possibly  be  believed  that  the  very  men  who 
were  nt  that  time  straining  every  nerve  to  have  their  own  pay 
increased,  would  recommend  that  the  very  sinews  of  the 
service,  the  petty  officers,  should  have  their's  reduced.  But 
so  it  was.  The  secretary  of  the  navy  could  never  have,  of 
himself,  thought  of  such  an  alteration,  could  not  have  known 
that  there  were  such  men  as  captains  of  the  forecastle,  or  cap- 
tains of  tops.  The  monstrous,  unjust,  and  despicable  plan 
originated  at  the  navy  board,  or  with  some  one  w^ell  acquainted 
with  the  details  of  the  navy.  His  name  ought  to  be  given 
up  to  the  public  for  the  unerring  finger  of  scorn  to  point  at. 
Shame  should  be  painted  upon  his  forehead.  Had  It  been 
^commended  to  increase  the  pay  of  captains  of  the  forecastle 
and  tops,  it  would  have  been  well,  for  they  are  always  smart, 
active,  good  seamen,  and  deserve  all  they  now  receive  ;  but  if 
they  were  formerly  receiving  too  little  wages,  it  did  not  follow 
that  quarter  masters,  quarter  gunners,  and  yeomen  were  re- 
ceiving too  much ;  no,  but  on  the  contrary,  were  receiving  too 
little.  The  petty  officers  are  the  best  men  in  the  navy,  are 
entrusted  with  the  superintending  and  performing  all  important 
duty ;  to  them  the  officers  look  in  time  of  danger  and  emer- 
gency, for  support;  they  must  be  particular  in  their  dress  : 
are  held  up  as  an  example  for  the  rest  of  the  crew  ;  and  these 
deserving  men  were  receiving  too  much  pay.  "  I  pity  the 
man  who  can  travel  from  Dan  to  Bersheba  and  say  all  Is  bar- ., 
ren.''  There  was  something  in  the  head  of  the  one  who 
advised  that  measure  that  a  phrenologist  would  never  have 
found. 

By  a  Navy  Register  just  sent  me  by  a  friend,  it  appears  that 
2 


J4  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

the  department  is  not  yet  satisfied  with  the  pay  of  the  sinews 
of  the  service,  for  since  I  left  the  navy  the  pay  has  again  been 
altered,  and  now  stands  as  follows  : 

Boatswain's,  gunner's  and  carpenter's  mates,  $19  per  month. 

Master  at  arms,            19  " 

Ship's  cooks,  ship's  stewards,  and  quarter  masters,  18  " 

Quarter  gunner's,  cooper's,  and  ship's  corporals,  15  " 

Coxswain  and  captains  of  forecastle,    ...  18  " 

Armorer  and  officer's  steward,      .         .         .        .  18  " 

Surgeon's  steward  and  master  of  band,        .         .  18  " 

Captains  of  tops  and  captains  of  hold,           .         .  15  " 

Officer's  cooks  and  sailmaker's  mates,          .        •  15  " 

Seamen  and  1st  class  musicians,           .         .         .  12  *' 

Ordinary  seamen  and  2nd  class  musicians,           .  10  '* 

Landsmen,            . '.)  " 

Boys,  from  6  to 8  " 

This  is  certainly  a  little  better,  but  why  is  a  quarter  master's 
pay,  again  increased  to  what  it  formerly  was,  and  not  a  quar- 
ter gunner's  ?  Why  are  sailmaker's  mates'  and  cooper's  pay 
reduced  ?  they  must  serve  a  time  to  their  trade  and  know  their 
business  perfectly.  Rating  officer's  stewards  captains  of  hold 
and  loblolly  boys  will  do  away  with  one  abuse ;  that  is,  rating  a 
man  one  thing,  and  making  him  perform  another  duty.  Those 
who  are  always  making  alterations  must  sometimes  blunder  into 
what  is  right  in  spite  of  themselves.  When  I  was  gunner  of  the 
U.  S.  ship  Concord,  I  was  allowed  by  the  regulations  of  the 
navy  eight  quarter  gunners  and  a  mate.  I  had  only  five  and 
latterly  six.  The  captain  of  the  hold  was  rated  a  quarter  gun- 
ner, and  some  one  else,  1  do  not  now  remember  who.  I  was 
allowed  a  yeoman,  but  had  none.  I  made  out  my  own  returns 
of  expenditures,  and  kept  my  own  books  ;  the  rate  of  my  yeo- 
man was  given  to  a  man  who  wrote  for  the  first  lieutenant. 
When  I  was  on  board  the  Lexington,  as  a  yeoman,  I  had  to  do 
the  duty  for  the  boatswain,  gunner,  carpenter,  and  sailmaker  in 
that  line,  and  also  the  writing  for  the  first  lieutenant.  1  appeal 
to  Lieut.  Bubier  for  the  truth  of  this  statement ;  he  was  first 
lieutenant  for  some  time.  At  that  time  there  were  three  yeo- 
men allowed  to  the  ship  and  three  were  rated,  but  one  was  cap- 
tain of  the  hold,  and  the  other  the  surgeon's  mate  or  loblolly 
boy,  as  he  is  more  frequently  termed,  while  I  had  to  perform 
their  duty  in  the  store-room;  cooped  up  from  morning  until 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  15 

night,  to  be  ready  for  all  calls,  performing  the  duty  allotted  to 
three  men,  and  receiving  the  pay  of  one.  It  is  true  when 
Capt.  McKeever  and  Lieut.  Joseph  Myers  joined  the  ship,  that 
in  consequence  of  my  confinement  and  writing  so  much,  I  was 
allowed  a  great  many  privileges  and  indulgences  more  than  any 
of  the  other  petty  officers,  yet  that  did  not  make  it  right  or 
just. 

The  duty  of  a  yeoman  is  to  keep  an  account  of  the  receipts 
and  expenditures  of  the  boatswain,  gunner  and  carpenter's 
stores,  and  to  issue  them  as  directed  by  the  executive  officer; 
one  is  allowed  to  each  department,  and  under  his  charge  the 
whole  stores  for  a  three  years  cruise  are  immediately  placed.  But 
it  frequently  happens  that  one  has  to  do  the  whole  duty,  while 
the  vacant  rates  are  given  to  others.  When  I  was  attached  to 
the  U.  S.  ship  Vandalia,  1  wrote  on  the  subject,  and  published 
my  remarks  in  the  Army  and  Navy  Chronicle,  then  edited  by 
Benjamin  Homans,  Esq.  The  communication  elicited  no  no- 
tice, and  1  had  almost  forgotten  the  circumstance,  when  on  my 
return  from  the  service  of  a  foreign  government,  I  found  the 
very  plan  I  had  recommended,  put  in  force  with  respect  to  this 
grade,  viz :  to  have  only  one  in  each  ship,  and  hold  him  re- 
sponsible for  the  whole  stores,  paying  him  per  month  when  on 
board  of  a  schooner  eighteen  dollars,  in  a  sloop  of  war  twenty 
five  dollars,  in  a  frigate,  thirty-five,  and  in  a  ship  of  the  line, 
forty.  This  plan  was  not  adopted,  however,  until  long  after 
my  remarks  were  published.  Although  it  appears  that  it  was 
approved  of,  it  was  not  acted  upon  until  a  sufficient  time  had 
elapsed  to  make  it  appear  as  a  measure  of  the  Department,  or 
or  a  lucky  hit  of  some  wiser  head  than  mine.  Don't  say,  Mr. 
Secretary,  or  Navy  Commissioner,  that  you  thought  of  it  your- 
self; if  you  do,  like  "  PufF  in  the  critic,  I  thought  of  it  first," 
and  claim  it  accordingly  ;  a  witness  for  which  claim,  can  be  pro- 
duced by  the  columns  of  the  Army  and  Navy  Chronicle.  How- 
ever, if  some  more  of  my  plans  which  are  founded  in  justice, 
reason,  and  common  sense,  were  adopted,  although  too  late 
ever  to  benefit  myself  in  the  navy,  I  shall  forgive  them  being 
used  as  the  inventions  of  superiors  at  the  seat  of  government. 

The  pay  of  a  ship's  steward  is  entirely  too  small,  but  as  the 


16  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

purser,  under  whose  direction  he  comes,  has  such  enormous 
perquisites,  it  is  naturally  expected  that  he  will  share  the  spoils 
with  his  subordinate,  or,  at  least,  make  him  up  a  decent  salary, 
which  is  invariably  done.  But  as  I  do  not  approve  of  pursers 
or  their  stewards  being  paid  out  of  the  hard  earnings  of  the  sea- 
men, it  would,  to  prevent  the  necessity  of  doing  so,  be  neces- 
sary to  increase  the  pay  of  ship's  steward  to  the  same  standard 
as  that  of  yeoman.  The  pay  of  an  able  seaman  is  entirely  too 
small,  when  it  is  considered  that  he  has  to  clothe  himself,  pur- 
chase tea,  sugar  and  tobacco,  out  of  this  sum. 

It  will  be  recollected  by  all  our  citizens  who  have  read  the 
history  of  England,  that  that  country  was  nearly  ruined  about  a 
half  century  ago  by  the  mutiny  at  the  Nore,  Innumerable 
evils  and  abuses  existed  in  the  British  navy  at  that  time,  and 
many  memorials  and  petitions  had  been  presented  by  the  sea- 
men praying  for  a  redress  of  grievances.  They  were  unheeded 
and  treated  with  contempt ;  and  what  followed  ?  The  men 
who  had  in  vain  sought  for  redress,  turned  the  arms  that  they 
had  wielded  for  the  defence  of  their  country,  against  that  coun- 
try, and  with  all  the  bitterness  of  domestic  quarrels,  were  deter- 
mined to  sacrifice  either  their  country  or  themselves,  in  prefer- 
ence to  listening  to  reason.  It  would  be  difficult  perhaps,  to 
draw  a  distinct  line  between  a  country  and  its  citizens,  so  as  to 
mark  exactly  how  far  each  might  go  without  infringing  on  the 
rights  of  the  other,  or  how  long  tyranny  and  oppression  are  to 
be  suffered,  before  having  recourse  to  arms  for  redress.  At  all 
events,  the  people  of  England  saw  the  arms  that  had  protected 
them  so  gallantly  from  their  enemies,  turned  against  themselves, 
and  those  who  wielded  them  were  like  wounded  bears,  deter- 
mined to  have  the  last  hug.  Had  these  men  made  sail  on  the 
vessels  under  their  control,  and  given  them  up  to  the  nation 
with  which  England  was  then  at  war,  the  star  of  Britain's  naval 
ascendency  would  have  set  forever.  But  they  loved  their  coun- 
try, although  that  country  had  proved  ungrateful,  a'nd  only 
sought  the  redress  of  the  grievances  by  force,  which  had  been 
denied  to  them  by  petition  and  gentle  means.  The  greater 
portion  of  British  subjects,  before  that  step  was  taken  by  their 
seamen,  were  perhaps  not  aware  of  the  existence  of  the  abuses 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  17 

of  which  they  complained.  But  evils  and  abuses  may  exist 
without  being  publicly  known. 

A  republic  like  the  United  States  has  never  any  danger  to 
apprehend  from  her  seamen,  any  encroachments  upon  the  rights 
of  her  citizens ;  not  so  with  an  army.  An  army  under  the  con- 
trol of  an  ambitious  leader,  may  destroy  the  liberties  of  a  people, 
ane  trample  them  in  the  dust.  But  a  navy,  no  matter  how 
powerful  it  may  be,  can  never  do  this.  So  that,  in  a  country 
like  ours,  where  commerce  is  the  great  source  of  national  wealth, 
the  navy  ought  to  be  cherished,  and  every  abuse  and  grievance 
promptly  corrected  and  removed.  The  greater  part  of  our  cit- 
izens are  not  aware  that  there  are  either  abuses  or  evils  in  this 
branch  of  the  public  service ;  but  I  hope  to  be  able  to  show 
them  that  such  is  the  case,  and  that  the  seamen  of  the  navy 
and  merchant  service  have  just  ground  of  complaint.  It  will 
then  remain  with  the  citizens,  though  their  representatives,  to 
have  them  redressed. 

Who  ever  heard  of  seamen  having  a  delegate  to  represent 
their  grievances  to  Congress  ?  No  one.  All  classes  of  officers 
have  had,  and  why  should  seamen  not  be  entitled  to  the  same 
privilege  ?  They  have  more  wrongs  to  complain  of  than  any 
others,  for  none  of  them  have  ever  been  redressed  or  alterations 
made  for  their  advantage,  since  the  organization  of  the  navy. 
Now  Jack  tars,  I  wish  you  would  raise  a  sum  sufficient  to  en- 
able me  to  take  my  land  tacks  aboard,  allow  me  double  rations, 
and  send  me  to  Washington  to  represent  your  grievances  to 
Congress.  I  do  not  know  the  present  honorable  secretary,  but 
if  I  could  get  him  and  some  honorable  representatives  seated 
comfortably  in  their  easy  chairs,  with  a  bottle  of  wine  and  some 
cigars  before  them,  and  they  give  me  a  patient  hearing,  I  would 
prescribe  some  doses  to  be  administered  to  the  navy,  which  if 
done  w^ould  purge  and  impart  a  more  healthy  vigour  to  its  con- 
stitution than  it  has  yet  been  blessed  with.  If  not,  why  I  am 
one  of  the  greatest  quacks  that  ever  dealt  in  the  healing  art. 

I  do  not  doubt  that  many  of  the  members  of  Congress  would 
be  found  ready  and  willing  to  extend  to  you  the  encouragement 
and  redress  that  has  so  long  been  withheld,  and  to  which  you 

are  entitled  by  every  priciple  of  common  sense  and  justice.     It 

2# 


i 


18  EVILS   ANB   ABUSES    IN   THE 

is  wrong  to  accuse  Congress  of  indifference  towards  you.  That 
body  cannot  correct  evils  of  which  they  know  nothing.  You 
have  borne  your  injuries  in  silence  ;  your  complaint  has  never 
I  cached  them.  Not  so  with  your  fellow  citizens  on  shore ;  if 
any  of  their  number  think  themselves  aggriev^ed,  they  petition 
Congress  ;  and  many  of  them  create  imaginary  evils,  in  order 
to  show  their  importance.  So  that  Congress  very  naturally  ex- 
pects that  all  real  grievances  are  laid  before  them,  when  they 
see  so  many  petitions  for  redress  of  abuses  that  never  existed 
except  in  the  minds  of  the  party.  They  petition  for  the  abol- 
ition of  slavery  in  the  southern  states  ;  they  do  not  know  that 
you  are  in  a  worse  condition  than  the  swarthy  brood  of  Africa. 
They  do  not  think  that  you  are  a  body  of  one  hundred  thou- 
sand strong,  and  yet  cut  off  from  a  vote  or  a  representation. 
How  long  they  will  remain  so,  must  hereafter  be  determined. 


CHAPTER  III. 

Enlistment  and  crimping  for  the  navy — advance,  how  expended — 
injury  dierefrom — amount  required  .from  the  purser  in  three  years,  and 
the  enormous  percentage  charged  thereon — smal^l  pay  of  pursers — the 
U.  S.  ship  of  the  line  Delavv^are — her  crew  deprived  of  hberty — lewd 
women  allowed  on  board  in  lieu  thereof  and  the  immoral  tendency  of 
the  latter— the  seamen  of  the  Java  on  their  arrival  in  the  United  States 
—the  immense  issues  made  by  the  purser  to  the  crew — the  profits  of 
the  purser  of  the  Delaware — purser's  clerk,  steward,  &c. 

Seamen,  &c.  when  they  enter  the  navy,  enlist  for  three 
years.  There  is  always  a  number  of  crimps  hanging  round  the 
rendezvous  where  the  seamen  ship,  to  induce  them  to  do  so, 
for  which  they  receive  a  fee,  not  from  the  government  as  is  the 
case  when  men  are  enlisted  for  the  army,  (for  the  goverment 
is  sparing  of  its  cash  where  seamen  are  concerned)  but  from  the 
seamen  themselves.  A  bonus  must  be  paid  by  them  for  per- 
mission to  enter  the  service  of  their  country. 

Crimping  is  a  word  well  understood  by  all  persons  acquaint- 
ed with  the  navy  ;  but  to  the  uninitiated  it  will  be  necessary 
to  explain  it.     It  does  not  mean  crimping  codfish,  nor  crlmpii>g 


NAVAL  ANl^  MERCHANT  SERVICE.  19 

a  frill,  but  kidnapping  men  for  the  navy.  A  crimp  is  not  a 
whit  more  respectable  than  a  body-snatcher,  and  twin  brother 
to  one  who  bears  nearly  the  same  name,  and  is  supported  on 
the  establishment  of  a  certain  class  of  females.  The  crimp 
persuades  the  seaman  by  fine  stories  to  ship,  tells  him  he  will 
have  three  months  advance,  gets  him  to  affix  his  name  to  the 
articles,  and  if  he  is  what  is  called  a  green  hand  induces  him 
to  go  on  board  the  ship  in  which  he  has  agreed  to  serve, 
for  the  purpose  of  looking  at  her.  While  there,  the  crimp 
produces  the  certificate  of  the  man  having  entered  at  the 
rendezvous,  which  is  given  by  the  officer  who  ships  the  man 
to  the  crimp.  When  this  order  is  once  presented  to  the 
officer  of  the  receiving  ship,  the  sailor  cannot  again  be 
permitted  to  go  on  shore.  The  crimp  or  sailor  landlord  will 
then  produce  a  bill  against  the  man  amounting  to  the  whole  of 
his  three  months  advance.  This  may  not  be  direct  impress- 
ment, but  it  is  equally  unjust.  I  do  not  know  how  these  mat- 
ters are  managed  here  in  Boston,  but  in  New  York,  I  was 
receiving  clerk  for  upwards  of  five  months  on  board  the  Hud- 
son frigate,  and  the  bills  brought  against  the  seamen  are  gene- 
rally as  follows : 

Services  (if  a  Seaman),        $4  00  Tarpanlin  Hat,     ....  1  50 

Bowl  and  Boat,      ...       2  00  Tin  pot,  spoon,  pan  &  knife,  1  00 

Landlord's  Bill,      ...      10  00  Silk  Handkcichief,     ...  1  00 

Blue  Jacket  and  browsers,  10  00  1  Pair  of  Shoes,     ....  1  00 
2  Duck  frocks  andtrowsers,  5  00             Total,    $36 

This  is  a  fair  and  just  specimen  of  the  bills.  The  four  dol- 
lars for  services  is  the  bomts  received  by  the  crimp  for  stand- 
ing the  man's  security,  that  is  saying  to  the  shipping  officer 
that  he  would  see  the  man  on  board  the  receiving  ship  by  such 
a  time.  If  the  sailor  had  any  friend  he  could  stand  the  securi- 
ty, but  the  crimps  would  tell  them  (if  they  were  unacquainted) 
that  they  alone  can  stand  the  security.  Despicable  wretches  I 
The  shipping  officei-s  despise  them,  although  necessity  compels 
them,  to  use  the  vile  creatures,  for  the  same  reason  that  the 
most  noxious  poisons  are  resorted  to  in  medicine.  The  bowl  for 
which  one  dollar  is  charged,  is  a  vile  decoction  of  rum  and 
sugar  with  the  addition  of  an  egg,  and  not  un frequently  mixed 
with  opium  or  some  other  dmg  that  produces  drunkenness  and 


20  EVILS  AND  ABUSES  IN  THE 

sleep,  and  in  that  manner  they  are  frequently  carried  on  board. 
This  dollar  paid  for  the  shipping  bowl  is  for  the  good  of  the 
house  where  the  rendezvous  is  kept — they  too,  must  have  their 
share  of  the  plunder.  How  preposterous  it  is  to  make  a  man 
pay  a  dollar  for  what  he  may  not  want,  and  which  he  could 
procure  elsewhere  for  twelve  and  a  half  cents!  Does  not  the 
government  pay  for  the  rooms  used  by  the  shipping  officers  ? 
and  w^by  should  the  seamen  be  taxed  to  support  sharpers. 
One  dollar  is  charged  for  the  boat  to  take  him  on  board,  when 
that  would  be  done  by  any  other  boatman  for  twenty-five  cents, 
but  the  crimp's  boatmen,  and  those  who  keep  the  rendezvous 
and  slop-shop  are  all  linked  together  and  it  is  no  part  of  their 
policy  to  let  the  seamen  escape  with  a  single  dollar  if  it  can  by 
any  means  be  prevented.  When  a  recruit  is  brought  on  board 
the  receiving  ship,  their  clothing  is  examined  to  see  that  they 
have  the  quantity  required  by  the  regulations  of  the  ship  or 
enough  to  last  them  three  months;  if  so,  they  are  asked  by  the 
receiving  officer  if  they  are  satisfied.  If  they  answer  in  the 
affirmative,  a  receipt  is  then  given  to  the  crimp  or  landlord,  and 
he  draws  their  advance.  If  they  say  that  the  articles  with 
which  they  are  charged  have  not  been  received,  the  receipt  is 
retained  until  they  are.  But  it  seldom  happens  but  what  the 
crimp,  by  fair  promises,  cajoles  them  into  his  plans,  whereby 
he  obtains  their  advance.  I  declare  in  this  public  manner,  that 
it  is  not  exaggeration  but  facts,  and  very  rarely  have  1  seen 
or  known  a  man  to  receive  more  than  one  or  two  dollars  out  of 
his  three   month's  advance. 

When  a  seaman  has  been  treated  in  this  shameful  manner, 
and  comes  to  his  senses,  he  thinks  all  the  world  is  against  him, 
becomes  dogged  and  sullen,  and  the  first  opportunity  that  offers 
he  deserts  from  the  service,  and  thereby  injures  the  navy  in 
the  estimation  of  other  seamen,  owing  to  the  villainy  practised 
by  the  crimps.  The  higher  grade  of  officers  in  the  navy  have 
it  in  their  power  to  correct  this  system  of  robbery  and  kidnap- 
ping, but  many  of  them  are  content  to  let  the  less  fortunate  of 
their  professional  brethren  fall  a  prey  to  the  villainy  of  a  few 
beings  who  are  destitute  of  every  moral  principle.  Others 
cannot  remove  this  abuse,  it  being  of  too  long  standing.     How 


NAVAL  AND  MERCHANT  SERVICE.  21 

much  longer  seamen  are  thus  to  be  plundered,  must  be  decided 
by  an  enlightened  public.  It  may  truly  be  said  that  the  sailor 
is  somewhat  like  the  whale,  the  swordfish  wounds  him  under- 
neath, while  the  thrasher  attacks  him  from  above.  The  crimps 
first  ship  and  rob  him  ;  he  then  falls  on  the  hands  of  the  purser 
for  three  years.  When  he  returns  home  the  land-shark  is  ready 
to  deprive  him  of  what  the  others  have  left,  so  that  he  is  con- 
tinually the  victim  of  imposition  and  injustice.  He  bears  his 
lot  contentedly,  however.  When  he  has  money,  it  is  ever  at  / 
the  service  of  the  needy  or  distressed  ;  the  object  of  poverty  *^ 
never  passes  by  unrelieved.  Only  tell  him  that  some  are  poor 
or  distressed  and  they  are  instantly  relieved.  His  hard  earn- 
ings are  soon  spent,  and  he  puts  to  sea  again  to  encounter  hard- 
ships and  dangers  of  the  direst  nature,  which  he  meets  with 
manly  fortitude. 

I  will  draw  a  rough  sketch  of  what  a  seaman  in  the  navy 
will  have  to  purchase  from  the  purser,  in  the  course  of  three 
years,  and  show  the  balance  that  he  will  be  likely  to  have  at 
the  end  of  a  three  years'  cruise. 

3  months'  advance,      ........; 

36      "         tea  and  sugar,  at  $1  50  per  month, 

3G      "         soap  and  tobacco,  at  $1  ''  "... 

2  suits  of  slop  clothing,  viz:  jackets  and  trowsers, 

2     "         fine,      do.  

15  duck  frocks  and  12  pair  duck  trowsers, or  sheeting  for  the  same 
6  flannel  shirts,  at  $1  50  each  ;  4  pair  flannel  drawers,  at  80  cts. 
G  black  handkerchiefs,  at  §1  each  ;  10  pair  stockings,  at  80  cts. 
10  pair  shoes,  at  ^1  75  per  pair,  and  2  pea  jackets. 
Tape,  needles,  thread,  ril)bon,  niu&tard,  pepper,^ 

spoons,  knives,  pots,  pans,  jack  knives,  straw  > 

for  hats,  blacking,  &c.  &c.  ) 

8G.  months'  hospital  fund,  at  20  cents  per  month, 


$36  00 

54  00 

36  00 

18  00 

48  00 

,  36  90 

12  20 

14  00 

27  50 

60  00 

7  20 

Amount  drawn  from  the  Purser,  ....       $349  80 

Total  credit  for  three  years,  at  $12  per  month,        .         .  $432  00 

Balance  due,  at  the  end  of  three  years,        .        .        .      .$  82  20 

The  articles  above  enumerated,  as  to  quantity  and  prices, 
are  reasonably  supposed ;  and  there  is  no  deduction  made  for 
any  liberty  money  that  may  have  been  advanced,  or  any  arti- 
cles that  may  have  been  purchased  from  the  purser  to  sell 
again,  in  order  to  raise  njoney.     But  it  is  invariably  the  case 


22  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

that  seamen  do  so ;  I  have  rarely  seen  one,  in  the  course  of 
eleven  years  that  I  served  in  the  navy,  but  what  bought  goods 
of  the  purser,  and  sold  ihern  again  on  shore  at  a  discount  of 
from  forty  to  sixty  per  cent.  [  have  seen  gown  patterns,  pieces 
of  Irish  linen,  pieces  of  silk  handkerchiefs,  broadcloths,  linen 
shirts,  and  many  other  superfluous  articles,  brought  on  board 
and  sold  to  the  sailors,  when  it  was  well  known  that  they  could 
not  want  such  articles  for  any  other  purpose  than  to  dispose  of 
again ;  yet  their  purchasing  them  was  overlooked  by  the  supe- 
rior officers.  A  captain,  when  looking  over  the  pay  roll,  which 
is  made  out  every  six  months,  could  easily  perceive,  was  he  so 
disposed,  that  there  were  some  transactions  of  this  nature  car- 
ried on,  if  the  men  w^ere  in  debt  to  the  purser  after  being  eigh- 
teen months  or  two  years  shipped ;  as  is,  and  frequently  has 
been  the  case.  It  is  contrary  to  law,  that  is  certain  ;  but  where 
is  the  use  of  a  law"  that  is  never  put  in  force  ?  It  is  only  such 
articles  as  are  furnished  by  the  government  that  are  charged  as 
slops,  and  on  these  the  purser  has  only  a  profit  often  percent., 
and  is  not  allowed  to  dispose  of  more  than  a  certain  quantity  to 
each  person.  But  all  fancy  articles  are  charged  upon  the  pay 
roll  as  cash.  A  man  may  be  charged  with  ^'200,  as  advanced 
by  the  purser  in  money,  when  he  never  received  five,  in  cash. 
K-o-u-g-h-p-h-y  does  not  spell  coffee,  but  what  does  it  spell  ? 
If  charging  a  man  with  ,$200  in  money,  when  he  has  never 
had  ten,  is  not  both  unjust  and  improper,  to  say  the  least  of  it, 
what  is  it  ?  It  may  naturally  be  asked  why  pursers  are  allow^ed 
to  do  so  ?  I  can  only  say  that  law"  and  custom,  blended  to- 
gether very  nicely,  is  their  w^arrant  for  it. 

Pursers  are  the  disbursing  officers  for  the  government,  and 
they  are  under  heavy  bonds  for  a  faithful  fulfilment  and  dis- 
charge of  their  duty,  w^hich  is  certainly  very  complicated,  and 
requires  a  great  deal  of  management — and  if  this  is  done  it  will 
yield  abundantly.  The  salary  of  pursers  is  a  mere  trifle — only 
^480  per  annum,  exclusive  of  rations  ;  but  if  they  are  not  well 
paid  by  government,  they  are  allowed  to  pay  themselves,  out 
of  the  wages  of  the  poor  seamen.  They  are  allowed  by  law 
to  charge  fifty  per  cent,  profit  on  many  articles,  and  twenty- 
five  upon  others.     They  are  not  well  paid  by  government,  but 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  23 

it  hai  given  them  privileges  which  are  tantamount  to  giving  a 
Yorkshireman  a  bridle,  which  will  end  in  his  finding  a  horse. 
I  have  heard  it  remarked,  that  pursers  might  as  well  have  sea- 
men's money,  as  landlords  and  lewd  women, — which  may  be 
true ;  but  it  is  not  necessary  that  any  of  those  should  have  his 
hard  earnings,  or  that  such  advantages  should  be  taken  of  them 
by  one,  or  that  they  should  be  fleeced  by  the  other.  Pursers 
ought  to  be  well  paid  by  the  government,  and  many  of  them 
would  rather  be  so  than  as  they  are  at  present.  Yet  the  love 
of  making  money  has  a  powerful  effect  upon  the  human  heart. 

When  the  navy  pay  bill  was  before  Congress,  a  motion  was 
made  to  regulate  the  pay  and  perquisites  of  pursers  also ;  but  it 
was  withdrawn  in  consequence  of  its  being  proposed  to  make  a 
separate  bill  for  them,  which  was  a  mean  subterfuge ;  and  so  it 
rests,  and  will  rest,  until  some  active  measures  are  taken  to 
press  it  on  the  consideration  of  Congress.  Congress  has  taken 
care  of  the  officers,  and  they  are  left  to  take  care  of  the  men. 
Whether  this  is  founded  in  unison  with  the  principles  of  free 
government,  or  not,  I  shall  leave  to  be  decided  by  the  wisdom 
of  the  American  people. 

The  money  that  is  procured  for  the  articles  bought  from  the 
purser,  and  sold  again  at  such  enormous  discount,  is  generally 
used  for  the  very  worst  purposes, — which  is  either  to  purchase 
liquor — smuggled  on  board — or  given  to  prostitutes.  When  I 
was  on  board  the  ship  of  the  line  Delaware,  the  first  cruise  in 
the  Mediterranean,  while  in  Port  Mahon,  these  women  were 
allowed  to  come  on  board  twice  each  week,  and  I  have  seen 
five  hundred  of  those  lost,  degraded  creatures,  on  board  at  a 
time  ;  and  if  there  is  a  demoralizing  spectacle  to  be  looked 
upon,  that  was  one.  All  the  decks  full  of  them— between  the 
guns  and  In  every  direction  were  these  women  to  be  seen  with 
the  seamen  ;  and  such  things  1  believe  are  still  allowed  in  that 
port,  and  others  on  that  station.  Another  disgusting  spectacle 
was,  when  the  women  come  on  board  in  the  evening,  the  mas- 
ter at  arms  and  ship  corporals  stand  in  the  gangway  as  they 
come  over,  and  pass  their  hands  over  every  part  of  their  per- 
sons, to  see  that  they  do  not  smuggle  liquor  on  board.  In  the 
morning,  before  they  leave  the  ship,  they  go  through  the  s*ame 


24  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    tS   TItfi 

examination,  to  prevent  tlieir  carrying  away  any  of  the  men's 
clothing ;  but,  notwithstanding,  they  easily  contrive  to  conceal 
round  their  body,  or  under  their  under-clothes,  the  reward  of 
their  prostitution,  wliich  may  be  a  piece  of  silk  handkerchiefs, 
a  piece  of  linen,  a  gown  pattern,  or  a  couple  of  yards  of  broad- 
cloth. These  presents  are  made  to  the  manifest  injury  of  the 
donor,  both  as  may  regard  morals  and  health,  but  to  the  advan- 
tage of  the  purser,  and  disgrace  of  the  service.  It  surely  is  the 
duty  of  the  government  to  prevent  such  disgraceful  proceed- 
ings, which  are  so  fatal  to  morals  and  health.  Many  men  have 
contracted  the  seeds  of  a  disease  that  rendered  them  loathsome 
to  themselves  and  others  while  living,  and  consigned  them  to 
an  early  grave,  under  the  express  sanction  of  the  present  cus- 
toms of  the  navy.  How  chaplains  can  acquit  themselves  for 
not  exposing  such  lewdness  and  debauchery,  is  lett  for  the 
reverend  gentlemen  to  say.  They  cannot  plead  ignorance,  for 
such  things  take  place  two  or  three  time  a  week,  on  board  of 
the  most  of  our  vessels  of  war,  when  in  Port  Mahon,  Messina, 
Palermo,  and  Syracuse. 

The  Delaware  lay  six  months  in  Port  Mahon,  at  her  anchors, 
until  she  nearly  grounded  upon  the  beef  bones  thrown  over- 
board from  her,  without  the  crew  ever  having  liberty  to  go  on 
shore.  Whether  it  was  most  prudent  to  keep  the  men  cooped 
up  like  wild  beasts  in  a  menagerie,  and  allowing  those  women 
to  come  on  board,  and  thereby  turning  that  splendid  ship  into 
a  floating  brothel,  of  the  lowest  description,  is  left  to  the  public 
to  decide.  The  Java  frigate,  Capt.  Dow^nes,  made  ten  cruises 
where  the  Delaware  made  one,  but  her  crew  always  had  lib- 
erty, on  their  arrival  in  port,  when  the  public  service  would 
admit  of  it ;  but  the  crew  of  the  Delaware  never  had  liberty 
except  once,  which  was  only  a  short  time  before  leaving  Port 
Mahon  to  return  to  the  United  States  ;  yet  many  of  the  crew 
re-entered  for  the  Java  and  Lexington,  and  were  in  debt  after 
having  been  two  years  on  the  station.  The  whole  of  the  dry 
goods  stores  in  Washington  Street,  do  not  transact  as  much 
business  in  a  week  as  was  done  in  the  purser's  store-room  of 
that  jhip  in  the  two  or  three  days  previous  to  her  sailing.  Seve- 
rn! thousand  dollars  worth  of  goods  were  disposed  of.     There 


Naval  and  merchant  service*  25 

was  no  waiting  to  dispute  about  prices  or  change ;  give  the 
name,  take  a  piece  of  linen,  gown  pattern,  or  a  piece  of  bandana 
silk  handkerchiefs,  and  walk  off. 

It  may  be  said  that  there  are  many  men  who  come  home 
with  three,  four,  and  sometimes  five  hundred  dollars,  due  them. 
This  is  the  truth  ;  but  these  are  wary  old  dogs,  who,  by  dint  of 
cooking,  washing  and  sewing,  for  the  less  experienced  hands, 
are  enabled  to  save  the  whole  of  their  pay ;  because  they  pro- 
cure from  others  what  they  require,  such  as  tea,  sugar,  tobacco, 
&c.,  for  their  services ;  but  some  one  is  the  sufferer.  When 
the  frigate  Java  returned  to  Norfolk,  Va.,  there  were  many  of 
her  crew  who  had  been  absent  from  the  United  States  four  and 
five  years,  and  many  of  them  were  in  debt.  I  was  told,  by  one 
who  knew,  that  ^1,000  paid  eighty  of  her  crew.  Some  idea  U^ 
may  be  formed  of  the  profits  of  the  purser,  when  it  is  stated 
that  the  purser's  steward,  out  of  his  share,  was  enabled  to  pur- 
chase a  brig,  and  brought  her  on  to  Boston.  He  had,  exclu- 
sive of  that,  cash,  trinkets,  and  a  wardrobe,  that  few  officers  in 
the  navy  could  equal.  In  the  present  state  of  things,  if  a  sea- 
man has  a  mother,  wife,  or  sister,  to  whom  he  wishes  to  leave 
a  part  of  his  pay,  as  is  often  the  case,  he  will,  unless  very 
economical,  return  home  without  a  dollar  due  him.  The  leav- 
ing of  allotments  by  seamen  in  the  navy,  is  allowed  for  a  very 
worthy  purpose ;  but  it  often  happens  that  they  are  left  for  an 
unworthy  end.  I  have  known  a  lewd  woman  to  have  five  dif- 
ferent tickets  of  this  sort,  which  left  her  in  possession  of  thirty 
dollars  per  month,  to  spend  in  drunkenness  and  dissipation; 
but  in  just  such  ways  do  seamen's  hard  earnings  go,  and  just  so 
they  will  go  until  some  efficient  method  is  put  in  force  to  do 
away  with  impositions,  of  which  they  are  daily  made  the  dupes. 
But  admitting  that  seamen  will  spend  their  money  foolishly 
when  on  shore,  or  be  robbed  of  it  by  crimps  and  landlords,  that 
is  no  reason  why  a  few  men  should  be  allowed  to  enrich  them- 
selves at  their  expense  when  they  are  on  board  of  their  vessels. 
Two  wrongs  never  made  a  right. 

It  will  be  said,  by  those  who  wish  to  criticise  this  production, 
that  our  seamen  are  better  paid  than   the  seamen  of  Great 
Britain,  from  which  we  are  so  fond  of  drawing  comparis<fns. 
3 


26  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

That  they  receive  a  greater  sum  total  per  month  I  will  admit, 
but  that  they  can  save  as  much  during  a  three  years'  cruise  I 
deny.  I  have  made  inquiry  at  different  times  into  the  regula- 
tions of  the  British  navy,  and  have  found  that  an  English  man- 
of-war's  man  cannot  purchase  things  of  a  purser  to  sell  again, 
-  nor  can  he  dispose  of  any  article  of  his  clothing  without  being 
detected  and  punished,  nor  can  he  draw  the  smallest  article 
from  the  purser  without  a  written  order  from  the  officer  of  his 
division.  There  is  such  a  regulation  in  our  navy,  and  I  have 
seen  it  put  in  force  at  the  commencement  of  a  cruise,  but  it 
soon  became  a  dead  letter.  Every  article  required  for  the  sea- 
men of  the  British  navy  is  furnished  by  the  government,  and 
upon  which  the  purser  has  only  a  very  small  per  eentage ;  and, 
owing  to  the  articles  being  much  cheaper  in  that  country  than 
in  the  United  States,  a  seaman  is  enabled  to  save  a  greater 
portion  of  his  wages.  The  tobacco  furnished  them  is  the  Vir- 
ginia leaf,  taken  from  the  king's  stores,  without  any  duty  hav- 
ing been  imposed  upon  it.  This  is  a  liberal  method  of  dealing 
with  men  whose  monthly  pay  is  small.  In  fact,  they  are  better 
paid  at  present  than  they  would  be  w^ere  they  to  receive  the 
same  pay  of  our  seamen,  and  be  subjected  to  the  same  mo- 
nopoly. When  they  purchase  cloth  or  duck  there,  buttons, 
thread,  &c.  are  given  in,  without  any  additional  charge ;  but  in 
our  navy  all  these  necessary  articles  have  to  be  purchased  sepa- 
rate. It  is  a  matter  of  indifference  to  the  pursers  of  our  navy, 
whether  they  purchase  the  articles  required  by  the  seamen  at 
a  high  or  low  price ;  they  put  on  the  per  eentage  allowed  by 
law,  and  the  seamen  alone  are  the  sufferers.  The  seam?n  may 
not  wish  to  purchase  the  article  at  the  high  price  charged  him 
for  it,  but  there  is  no  alternative,  he  is  buying  with  his  own 
hard-earned  money,  but  he  has  not  that  money  in  his  hand,  nor 
can  he  get  it  to  purchase  elsewhere ;  he  cannot  do  without 
clothing,  and  therefore  must  pay  the  price  demanded,  no  mat- 
ter how  extravagant  it  may  be.  Suppose,  for  instance,  that 
fifty  seamen  want  each  to  get  a  suit  of  blue  cloth ;  a  tailor  is 
sent  on  board  to  measure  them,  he  has  his  profits,  and  if  he 
sells  each  suit  to  the  purser  for  eighteen  dollars,  the  purser 
sticks  on  his  fifty  per  cent,  and  delivers  them  to  the  crew ;  and 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  27 

the  capital  with  which  this  speculation  is  carried  on  is  not  pri- 
vate funds,  but  public  money ;  for  the  purser,  at  the  end  of 
every  six  months,  takes  credit  to  himself  for  all  issues  to  the 
crew,  and  draws  upon  the  department  or  a  navy  agent,  just  for 
such  sums  as  he  may  require.  The  officers  are  not  affected  by 
the  purser's  privileges,  they  are  entitled  to  their  pay  every 
month,  and  can  always  purchase  what  they  want  on  shore. 
Had  it  affected  them,  the  law  would  have  been  altered  long 
ago ;  but  as  it  only  concerns  the  poor  friendless  seamen,  it  re- 
mains unaltered,  because  those  who  are  benefitted  by  it  have 
greater  influence  than  those  whom  it  injures.  Money  gives  a 
man  or  any  body  of  men  influence,  and  certainly  pursers  have 
an  easy  method  of  procuring  it ;  two  cruises  in  a  large  ship  will 
leave  a  purser  independent,  and  this  is  the  more  grievous  when 
it  is  considered  that  they  enrich  themselves  at  the  expense  of 
a  class  of  men  who  are  ill  able  to  afford  it,  and  whose  families 
are  suffering  from  want,  or,  in  all  probability,  supported  by  the 
public  as  inmates  of  a  poor  house.  I  heard  it  asserted  by  an 
officer,  that  the  purser  of  the  Delaware  cleared  a  profit  of  at  > 
least  ^60,000,  and  he  who  made  the  remark  done  so  for  no  ^^ 
other  motive  but  that  of  compassion  for  those  who  were  the 
sufferers.  When  Capt.  Mix  joined  that  ship,  as  first  lieutenant, 
he  gave  an  order  that  no  article  should  be  issued  to  any  of  the 
crew  by  the  purser,  without  a  written  order  from  him  or  the 
officers  of  the  divisions;  but  this  order  was  violated.  When 
the  purser's  steward  knew  that  the  first  lieutenant  would  not  be 
coming  round  the  deck,  in  the  evening  or  at  other  times,  he 
w^ould  open  the  store-room,  and  in  a  short  time  issue  goods  to 
the  amount  of  a  thousand  dollars  or  more.  This  can  soon  be 
done,  when  a  man  has  only  to  give  his  name.  There  was  one 
person  charging  the  individuals  with  goods,  while  another  was 
delivering  them.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  the  purser  of  that 
ship  ordered  this  to  be  done,  but  he  could  scarcely  be  ignorant 
of  it ;  he  knew  that  a  case  of  gold  watches  were  brought  on 
board,  and  when  they  were  all  gone  he  must  have  known  that 
some  persons  had  bought  them — and  he  could  have  no  reason 
to  suppose  that  the  officers  did,  with  whom  he  daily  messed — 
and  the  midshipmen  could  not  afford  gold  watches,  when  their 


I 


28  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

pay^vas  only  nineteen  dollars  per  month.  The  purser  of  that 
ship  had  a  clerk  and  steward  both  ;  the  latter  received  eighteen 
dollars  per  month  from  the  government,  and  the  former  received 
his  salary  from  the  purser,  and  was  not  borne  on  the  ship's 
books,  at  all. 

Some  purser's  stewards  have  been  enabled  to  support  them- 
selves in  a  style  far  above  lieutenants  or  other  commissioned 
officers.  I  have  known  one  to  have  a  private  box  in  the 
opera,  and  be  courted  and  carressed  by  foreigners  for  distribu- 
tion that  he  had  of  seamen's  money.  From  these  facts  which 
are  stated,  it  will  easily  be  obvious  to  every  man  that  there  are 
evils  in  this  department  which  ought  to  be  corrected.  I  am 
fully  aware  of  the  censure  that  I  may  receive  for  exposing  this 
and  other  abuses,  and  the  illiberal  allusions  that  will  follow.  I 
well  know  also  that  truth  can  only  be  found  by  slow  and  pain- 
ful progress,  and  that  error  is  flippant  and  compendious.  It 
hops  with  airy  and  fastidious  levity  over  proofs  and  arguments, 
and  perches  upon  assertion,  which  it  calls  conclusion. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Slop  clothing  furnished  by  the  government — the  losses  thereon— its 
uselessness  from  being  badly  made,  badly  cut,  and  bad  materials — 
necessity  of  purcliasing  private  goods  from  the  purser,  and  the  sacri- 
fices made  by  green  bands  to  have  them  made  up— navy  commissioners 
to  blame  for  slop  clothing  being  unsuitable — remarks  on  that  subject — 
the  North  Carolina's  pay  bill — total  credit  balance  due,  and  purser's 
profits  estimated. 

The  clothing  furnished  by  the  government  for  the  use  of  the 
seamen  of  the  navy  are  denominated  slops.  These  articles 
consist  of  maltrasses,  blankets,  pea  jackets,  blue  cloth  jackets, 
blue  cloth  trowsers,  duck  frocks,  duck  trowsers,  flannel  shirts, 
flannel  drawers,  shoes,  stockings,  and  black  silk  handkerchiefs. 
This  clothing  is,  I  believe,  generally  made  up  in  some  of  the 
state  prisons,  and  in  the  most  wretched  manner,  so  much  so 
that  every  man-of-war's  man  has  to  sew  them  over  before  they 
are  worn,  or  immediately  afterwar<ls. 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  29 

It  certainly  is  not  a  very  laudable  plan  to  have  clothing 
made  in  state  prisons  for  seamen,  when  there  are  so  many  of 
their  wives  and  daughters  destitute,  and  cannot  procure  the 
employment  that  is  by  this  means  taken  from  them.  While 
benevolent  ladies  are  spending  money  and  time  to  find  them 
employment,  straining  every  nerve  to  make  them  happy  and 
respected,  and  endeavoring  to  exalt  them  by  industry  and  in- 
dependence, the  United  States  is  getting  the  clothing  for  sea- 
men made  in  state  prisons.  Seamen  have  to  pay  for  the 
making  of  this  clothing,  and  certainly  they  would  do  so  with 
a  better  grace  if  they  knew  that  the  money  so  paid  went  to 
the  support  of  an  indigent  sailor's  widow  or  daughter.  This 
is  not  all,  this  clothing  is  both  badly  made  and  badly  cut.  I 
never  saw  a  slop  jacket  or  trowsers  that  ever  fitted  a  man  ;  and 
they  are  not  in  compliance  with  any  regulation  ;  on  the  con- 
trary they  must  all  be  altered  to  comply  with  the  usage  of  the 
service.  The  blue  jackets  and  trowsers  ''fit  like  a  purser's 
shirt  on  a  handspike."  The  duck  frocks  and  trowsers  are  un- 
bleached, and  not  fit  to  be  worn  at  inspection  or  Sunday  mus- 
ters. All  man-of-war's  men  must  have  the  collars  of  their 
frocks  fined  with  blue  nankeen,  two  rows  of  tape  on  the  same, 
and  sometimes  a  star  in  the  corner,  according  to  the  fancy  of 
the  commanding  officer  of  the  ship  to  which  they  are  attached. 
This  is  as  it  should  be,  uniformity  is  necessary,  and  adds  to 
the  appearance  of  any  body  of  men,  but  this  uniform  ought  to 
be  made  on  shore,  and  who  so  proper  to  do  it  as  seamen's 
wives  or  daughters  ?  There  are  many  old  men-of-war's  men 
who  can  do  their  own  sewing,  and  in  needle  work  would  put 
many  a  female  to  the  blush.  Yet  these  are  by  far  the  fewest 
number,  there  are  hundreds  of  what  are  termed  green  hands ^ 
(or  men  who  have  never  been  to  sea  before,)  who  ship  in  the 
navy  every  year.  These  men  perhaps  never  sewed  a  button 
on  in  their  lives,  and  how  can  they  be  expected  to  make  their 
own  clothes  ?  Their  clothes  must  be  made,  and  the  more  ex- 
perienced hands  have  to  do  it  for  them ;  but  they  must  be  paid 
for  doing  so.  Tea  and  sugar  for  a  month,  which  possibly  may 
cost  ^1.50  is  often  given  for  making  a  shirt  or  pair  of  trowsers, 
w^ien  the  same  could  be  done  by  a  female  for  two  shillings. 
3* 


30  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    TU^ 

It  lias  often  been  a  matter  of  surprise  to  me  what  these  articles 
are  put  on  board  for ;  an  immense  expense  is  incurred  annu- 
ally by  their  being  damaged  by  mice,  moths,  &c.  ;  they  are 
then  surveyed,  condemned,  and  sold  for  the  benefit  of  "  tJncle 
Sam  ;"  they  were  never  worth  much,  but  then  they  are  literally 
worth  nothing,  and  are  very  frequently  sold  for  one-tenth  of 
their  original  cost.  When  I  was  in  Norfolk,  (Va.)  in  1831, 
a  lady  with  whom  I  boarded,  who  kept  a  clothing  store,  pur- 
chased a  quantity  of  damaged  slop  clothing  for  eighty,  that 
cost  the  government  at  least  one  thousand  dollars ;  she  sold 
them  again  to  people  for  clothing  for  their  slaves,  and  realized 
a  very  handsome  profit ;  but  if  it  had  not  been  in  a  slave  state 
I  am  ignorant  of  any  who  would  purchase  such  clothing,  unless 
to  distribute  gratuitously.  Hundreds  of  bales  of  this  clothing 
are  laying  in  our  navy  yards  and  in  foreign  storehouses  perish- 
ing on  the  hands  of  the  government,  and  for  what  use  or  pur- 
pose, but  to  add  to  the  pampered  wealth  of  some  fat  contractor, 
w^ho  is  putting  in  his  pocket  the  people's  money,  which  would 
certainly  be  more  profitably  expended  in  furnishing  employ- 
ment to  destitute  females,  of  which  there  are  but  too  many  in 
all  our  large  seaports  ;  and  the  want  of  proper  employment  for 
them,  by  which  they  could  earn  enough  to  keep  them  from 
starving,  is  but  too  often  the  forerunner  of  crime.  I  well 
know  that  there  i^  not  a  man-of-war's  man,  that  has  any  pride, 
would  go  on  shore  on  liberty  with  a  slop  jacket  or  trowsers  on; 
thereby  it  becomes  necessary  that  seamen  should  have  other 
clothing,  and  for  that  reason  the  pursers  have  sheeting  &;c.  of 
their  own  to  dispose  of  to  the  crew.  The  shoes  are  pegged, 
and  of  such  wretched  materials  that  after  being  wet  in  salt 
water  and  worn  two  or  three  times  up  and  down  the  rigging, 
they  spread  out  so  as  to  cover  as  much  of  the  deck  as  a  shot 
box  would.  In  consequence  of  this  the  pursers  must  buy  other 
shoes,  and  those  belonging  to  the  government  are  tossed  over 
for  three  years  and  then  returned  to  the  navy  yard,  on  the 
leturn  of  the  ship,  to  be  condemned.  These  articles  are  in- 
variably made  in  state  prisons.  The  pea  jackets  are  the  only 
articles  that  are  fit  to  be  worn,  and  only  such  of  those  as  are 
made  of  drab  colored  cloth  ;  those  tliat  are  made  of  what  is 


Naval  and  merchant  sekvice.  31 

called  blue  cloth  are  very  near  as  good  to  keep  out  rain  as 
dyed  blanket  would  be.  I  was  ten  years  in  the  navy,  the 
greater  part  of  that  time  as  a  seaman  and  petty  officer,  and  I 
never  wore  a  slop  jacket ;  in  fact  the  whole  slop  clothing  that 
1  purchased  during  that  time  did  not  perhaps  amount  to  fifty 
dollars,  and  my  case  was  by  no  means  a  rare  one.  Some 
more  efiicient  regulation  should  be  njade  respecting  cloth- 
ing, by  which  the  government  would  be  saved  an  enor- 
mous expense ;  although  a  per  centage  is  charged  upon  the 
slops  when  they  are  sold  to  the  men,  yet  that  by  no  means 
makes  up  the  loss.  And  in  the  name  of  common  sense,  after 
what  pattern  are  they  made?  none  certainly  that  ever  I  saw  on 
a  seaman's  back.  Tlie  frocks  have  a  small  square  collar,  about 
the  size  of  a  shirt  collar,  when  every  person  who  ever  saw  a 
man-of-war's  man,  well  knows  that  the  collars  worn  by  them 
are  large  enough  to  turn  back  over  the  shoulders.  The  jackets 
are  made  after  no  model  or  draft  in  use  since  the  days  of 
*^  Commodore  Trunnion,"  (farther  back  than  that  I  dare  not 
venture,)  some  of  them  have  standing  collars  and  slashed  sleeves. 
The  buttons  were  perhaps  once  what  may  have  been  termed 
gilt,  but  every  vestige  of  that  has  disappeared  before  they  are 
opened  out  of  the  bale.  The  buttons  on  the  duck  trowsers  are 
made  of  wood,  by  way  of  encouraging  home  growth,  there 
being  plenty  of  that  in  our  forests — in  faith,  the  whole  is  glori- 
ous humbug. 

I  presume  the  lionorable  commissioners  of  the  navy  are  to 
blame  for  this  waste  and  nonsense.  We  yearly  see  long  ad- 
vertisements in  the  newspapers  stating  that  "  sealed  proposals 
will  be  received  for'*  so  and  so,  until  such  a  time.  God  help 
the  little  navy  if  all  contracts  are  as  poorly  complied  with  as 
that  of  slop  clothing.  1  would  ask  those  gentlemen  where  they 
got  the  pattern  for  this  clothing  ?  As  they  do  not  see  many 
seamen  at  Washington  I  presume  they  have  got  one  carved 
out  of  wood,  to  draft  from.  Did  ever  any  of  them,  when  they 
commanded  sea  going  vessels,  (which,  gentle  reader  is  a  long 
time  ago,)  see  a  sailor  at  muster  with  an  unbleeched  shirt,  with 
no  nankin  on  the  collar,  and  that  only  three  or  four  inches 
broad  ?  if  they  did,  tliey  have  beat  me,  and  I  am  well  satisfied 


32  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

that  I  have  seen  more  seamen,  and  sea  service  than  they  have 
in  the  last  thirty  years,  at  all  events.  I  would  not  wish  to 
inflict  any  greater  punishment  on  them,  however,  for  their 
negligence  to  affairs  concerning  seamen,  than  to  see  them  at 
the  president's  levee,  or  round  the  navy  board,  dressed  in  slop 
jackets,  frocks  and  trowsers.  It  would  be  mutiny  for  me  to 
laugh  (at  those  who  were  once  my  superiors,  but  who  will 
never  control  me  again)  but  really  I  do  believe  1  should  be 
guilty  of  that  breach  of  decorum.  Gentlemen,  pardon,  this  is 
the  first  time  I  ever  paid  you  my  distresses,  I  think  your  suit 
becomes  you  much.  1  wish  you  a  long  life  to  wear  many 
such. 

There  is  a  "  Seaman's  Aid  Society"  established  in  Boston, 
conducted  by  benevolent  ladies,  the  object  of  which  is  to 
procure  employment  for  seamen's  wives,  widows,  and  daugh- 
ters, and  thereby  to  prevent  them  from  becoming  a  burthen  to 
themselves,  or  the  public.  Surely  it  were  better  and  more 
laudable  to  have  seamen's  clothing  that  is  required  for  the  use 
of  the  navy  made  by  such  an  establishment  when  the  profits 
are  expended  in  so  benevolent  a  manner.  But  at  present  the 
contract  is  given  to  those  who  make  the  clothing  worst,  hy 
which  niggardly  economy,  the  government  in  the  end  becomes 
the  loser  to  a  large  amount.  Whereas,  if  the  clothing  was 
well  made,  the  frocks  lined  with  blue  nankin  on  the  collar,  he, 
the  crews  would  find  it  to  their  advantage  to  purchase  them, 
and  no  loss  would  be  sustained,  and  the  necessity  of  purchasing 
the  purser's  private  stock  would  be  left  optional  with  the  pur- 
chaser, bwt  at  present  the  duck  trousers  are  made  to  come 
nearly  up  to  a  man's  neck  and  fitted  for  suspenders.  Who 
ever  saw  a  man-of-war's  man  with  suspenders,  on  board  of  a 
ship  ?  I  never  did.  Some  poor  lean  creature  just  fresh  from 
the  country,  who  has  not  his  clothing  made  to  fit  him,  may  wear 
them  for  a  time,  but  it  rarely  happens,  unless  that  some  crea- 
ture has  no  hip  bones  to  keep  his  trousers  up,  but  is  built  flush 
fore  and  aft  like  a  barber's  razor  strop.  It  would  be  just  as 
natural  for  a  man-of-war's  man,  to  look  for  a  shin  cleat  to  belay 
his  stocking  halliards  to,  as  to  ask  for  a  pair  of  suspenders.  In 
the  meantime,  until  some  other  law  is  made  respecting  this  evil, 


NAVAL  AND  MERCHANT  SERVICE.  33 

the  custom  of  pursers  ought  to  be  solicited  to  assist  such  establish- 
ments. It  is  a  matter  of  indifference  to  them  to  whom  they 
pay  their  money  for  goods,  and  I  am  well  aware  that  they 
would  purchase  from  ladies,  in  preference  to  giving  their 
money  to  those  who  could  afford  to  lose  their  custom  without 
suffering  any  inconvenience  therefrom.  Gallantry  and  benevo- 
lence would  induce  the  pursers  to  do  this,  for  those  gentlemen 
are  not  destitute  of  either,  and  their  co-operation  and  influence 
ought  to  be  solicited  until  some  more  efficient  law  is  made 
respecting  slop  clothing. 

The  U.  S.  ship  North  Carolina,  has  arrived  in  New  York 
recently,  and  by  an  article  in  the  "  Boston  Daily  Times,"  it 
appears  that  the  balance  due  on  the  pay  roll  is  ^108.000  for 
a  crew  of  700  men  :  this  I  presume  has  found  its  way  into  the 
papers  from  the  circumstance  of  its  being  an  unusual  large 
amount.  On  the  Pacific  station  the  seamen  have  less  opportu- 
nity to  spend  their  wages  than  on  any  other,  which  may 
account  for  it.  When  the  U.  S.  frigate  Constitution  arrived 
in  Boston  in  1828,  from  the  Mediterranean,  Lieut.  Randolph 
drew  on  the  department  for  8000  dollars  to  pay  the  officers 
and  crew,  and  after  doing  so,  had  4  or  5000  dollars  left  in  his 
own  hands  ;  this  too,  after  the  vessel  had  been  absent  nearly 
four  years.  The  North  Carolina's  crew  are  nearly  three  years 
shipped  although  she  has  only  been  absent  two  years  ;  and 
supposing  the  medium  to  be  thirt}/ -three  months,  let  us  see 
how  the  account  will  stand. 

Crew  of  the  North  Carolina,  Cr. 
70  Petty  officers  l>efore  being  rated  at  seamen's  pay,  $12  for  9  months  $108  by  70=$  7,560 

70          «'               after          "             average  pay         J6 «'  24  "  384  "    70=  26,880 

300  Senmen     al 12 "  33  '«  396  <'   300=118,800 

230  Ordinary  seamen   at 10  "  38  "  330  "   230=  75,900 

100  Landsmen  and  boys,        •         •         .         ,        .        .     8  "  33  ''  "264  "  100=  26,400 

100  Mariners,  average  pay,       .        .        •        .        .        8 "  24  "  192  »*  100=  19,200 

Total  Credit  for  pay $275,740 

Dr. 

370  Seamen  and  petty  officers  to  amount  of  advance,                    $26  each  is  $  13,320 

230  Ordinary  seamen, 30      "  6,900 

100  Landsmen  and  l)oya,         .         .                  .         •         .         .         .      24      «  2,400 

Amount  advanced  by  purser  in  slops  and  luxuries,        •        .        .        .  .        145,120 

'•        Remaining  unpaid, 108,000 

$275,740 


34  EVILS  AND  ABUSES  IN  THE 

By  this  it  would  appear  that  the  sum  of  ^145,120  has 
been  taken  from  these  men  since  they  shipped,  for  goods  pur- 
chased from  the  purser.  Upon  articles  so  purchased  there  is 
charged  by  law  ten,  twenty-five  and  fifty  per  cent  more  than 
cost ;  the  articles  upon  which  ten  and  twenty-five  per  cent  is 
charged,  are  less  used  than  those  denominated  luxuries,  which 
pays  the  purser  fifty  per  cent,  and  it  would  be  reasonable  to 
allow  the  profits  upon  the  whole  to  be  forty  per  cent.  If  this 
is  the  case  pursers  have  cleared  from  that  crew  the  enormous 
sum  of  $'58,048  in  three  years,  exclusive  of  profits  on  goods 
sold  to  officers.  At  this  rate  a  purser's  situation  is  preferable 
to  that  of  President  of  the  United  States,  for  the  purser  pays 
no  more  towards  his  mess  than  a  lieutenent  or  master,  I  have 
not  made  the  above  statements  to  prove  that  the  purser  of  that 
ship  has  done  any  thing  that  is  wrong  ;  but  I  wish  to  shew  that 
the  law  is  radically  bad  and  ought  to  be  amended.  If  from 
amongst  that  seven  hundred  men  and  one  hundred  marines, 
there  were  two  hundred  and  fifty  that  had  saved  three  hundred 
dollars  each,  as  in  all  probability  is  the  case,  it  would  require 
$75,000  to  pay  them,  and  leave  $33,000  to  be  divided 
among  the  remaining  five  hundred  and  fifty,  which  would  give 
the  enormous  sum  of  sixty  dollars  for  their  thirty-three  months 
servitude.  From  this  any  man  open  to  conviction  may  see 
what  an  error  there  must  be  in  the  present  system  in  the  navy, 
and  what  a  small  amount  may  fall  to  an  individual's  share, 
although  the  sum  total  $  108,000,  is  very  considerable.  "  It 
is  presumed  that  pursers  of  the  navy  do  nothing  but  what 
they  are  justified  in  doing,  by  law  and  usage.  The  question  is 
not  with  them,  but  whether  the  law  and  usage  are  right?  it 
must  strike  any  man  of  mere  common  sense,  and  who  never 
had  the  means  of  information  from  actual  service,  as  a  curious 
fact,  that  where  men  are  supplied  with  rations,  and  can,  appa- 
rently, want  nothing  but  garments,  that  there  should  be  such  a 
thing  as  money-making,  under  sanction  of  the  government,  in  a 
traffic  carried  on  between  a  purser  and  a  crew."  This  is  an 
extract  from  a  small  work  before  me,  and  many  will  concur 
with  the  author  in  the  opinion. 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  35 


CHAPTER    V. 

Naval  ration — when  regulated  by  law— changes  since  that  time  in 
public  feeling  with  regard  to  spirits — evil  .tendency  of  the  ration  by 
encouraging  drunkenness — mistaken  idea  respecting  sram^3n  shipping 
for  grog — injury  to  seamen  from  not  receiving  snudl  stores — pay  of 
seamen  in  the  navy  compared  with  that  of  the  niercbant  service — 
hints  respecting  the  ration — want  of  S(  amen  caused  by  the  present 
system,  and  benefit  likely  to  be  derived  from  remodeling  the  ration 
and  discontinuing  spirits. 

The  navy  ration  was  regulated  by  law  on  the  third  of  March, 
1801,  now  thirty-eight  years  ago.  Since  that  time  several 
motions  have  been  made  in  Congress  to  remodel  it,  but  with- 
out effect.  I  know  of  no  evil  which  so  much  requires  the 
action  of  Congress  as  this.  During  the  last  thirty-eight  years 
great  changes  have  been  made  in  the  civil,  military,  and  naval 
affairs,  and  that  which  so  much  requires  revising  has  been  neg- 
lected. Corporeal  punishment,  which  has  been  so  much  cen- 
sured by  the  citizens  of  our  country,  as  being  degrading  and 
incompatible  with  the  priticiples  of  our  free  institutions  and 
government,  is  perhaps  not  so  productive  of  pernicious  effects, 
as  the  tendency  of  the  ration  issued  by  law.  The  very  ration 
which  is  at  present  allowed  Is  the  cause  of  degrading  punish- 
ments ;  our  citizens  have  looked  at  the  effects  vvithout  being 
able  to  form  any  just  opinion  as  to  the  cause.  Great  efforts 
have  lately  been  made  to  suppress  the  evil  of  intemperance, 
and  that  vice  as  it  exists  in  the  public  service,  must  certainly 
be  entitled  to  some  degree  of  public  notice.  The  present 
ration  directly  favors  intemperance,  and  counteracts  every  effort 
made  by  philanthropic  individuals  to  better  the  condition  of 
seamen,  by  raising  them  to  that  standing  In  a  moral  point  of 
view,  to  which  their  services  so  much  entitle  them,  in  a  politi- 
cal sense.  As  long  as  the  ration  remains  as  it  now  is,  an 
appetite  will  be  created  for  strong  drink;  and  that  appetite  will 
increase,  just  as  long  as  the  means  of  administering  to  it  can  be 
procured  ;  and  just  so  long  as  that  is  the  case,  every  means 
and  plan   of  reformation  will  be   reqidered    abortive.      Take 


36  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

that  away  and  the  minds  of  seamen  will  be  fitted  to  receive 
'that  instruction,  which  they  stand  so  much  in  need  of.  A 
seaman  who  has  for  the  period  of  three  years  drank  half  a 
pint  of  ardent  spirits  every  day,  has  acquired  a  habit  that  will, 
in  seven  cases  out  of  ten,  only  end  with  life,  and  that  life  will 
be  shortened  in  proportion  to  the  quantity  of  spirits  consumed. 
In  the  navy  at  present,  if  a  seaman  is  In  conversation,  no  mat- 
ter with  whom,  he  will  leave  them  the  moment  that  the  drum 
rolls,  and  run  for  his  grog,  quaff  the  fatal  drug,  and  return. 
But  this  is  not  done  in  all  cases  because  the  individual  really 
believes  that  he  is  benefitted  by  drinking  spirits,  but  because 
it  is  allowed  him  by  law  as  a  part  of  his  ration,  and  he  does 
not  wish  to  lose  it,  or  that  by  long  habit  has  become  so  used 
to  it  that  he  cannot  voluntarily  lay  it  aside.  The  experiments 
tried  on  board  of  many  of  our  merchant  vessels,  fully  prove 
that  seamen  may  be  brought  by  custom  and  usage  to  dispense 
with  grog.  There  are  not  any  more  seamen  ship  in  the  navy, 
wdiere  they  know  they  will  get  grog,  than  did  before  it  was 
discontinued  in  merchant  vessels,  and  vessels  find  no  more 
difficulty  in  procuring  crews  to  man  them,  than  when  grog 
was  allowed  on  board  of  them.  Jt  has  also  been  clearly  proved 
to  the  public  that  fewer  shipwrecks  and  disasters  occur  now 
than  formerly.  I  know  it  to  be  a  fact  that  seamen  in  the  mer- 
chant service,  when  going  to  ship,  never  think  of  asking 
whether  they  are  to  be  allowed  grog  or  not,  but  naturally 
expect  that  they  will  not.  The  navy  does  not  ship  one  sea- 
man more  now  in  a  year,  than  when  merchant  ships  gave  their 
crews  grog,  which  must  go  to  prove  that  that  is  not  what  in- 
duces them  to  enter.  Was  the  navy  ration  remodeled  and 
the  pay  of  seamen  increased  two  or  three  dollars  per  month, 
the  secretary  of  the  navy  would  not  have  to  complain  that 
seamen  could  not  be  procured  for  the  exploring,  or  any  other 
expedition.  U  we  cannot  ship  seamen  enough  to  man  the  few 
ships  that  we  keep  in  commission  for  the  protection  of  our 
commerce,  what  are  we  to  do  in  case  of  war,  when  we  shall 
require  ten  times  the  number  that  we  now  employ  ?  If  it  is  a 
fact  that  we  cannot  get  seamen  enough  for  our  present  limited 
number  of  vessels  of  war,  it  ought  not  to  be  published  to  the 


NAVAL   AN1>    MERCHANT    SERVICE*  37 

World,  but  a  remedy  applied  in  some  shape  or  other.  "  Tell 
it  not  in  Gath  nor  let  the  sound  reach  Askelon>  lest  the 
Philistines  rejoice,"  that  the  United  States,  that  boasts  so  much 
of  her  naval  excellency,  cannot  ship  seamen  enough  to  man 
two  or  three  frigates  and  ten  or  twelve  sloops  of  war.  In 
case  of  war  many  seamen  would  enter  the  navy  for  the  honor 
of  serving  their  country  in  the  liour  of  need ;  but  it  never  will 
be  for  the  scanty  pittance  that  they  receive.  But  the  number 
that  would  so  enter,  would  by  no  means  be  sufficient,  and 
Congress  would  have  to  adopt  measures  which  would  cripple 
our  comm.erce  and  embarrass  our  merchants.  Let  some  evils 
and  grievances  be  removed  and  redressed  with  regard  to  the 
navy,  and  seamen  will  ship  in  it.  If  not,  we  shall  find  out, 
when  too  late,  the  value  and  the  want  of  the  men  whose  in* 
lerests  have  been  so  shamefully  neglected. 

In  the  event  of  a  war,  our  merchants  and  ship  owners  ought 
not  to  be  made  the  sufferers ;  they  at  present  bring  up  enough 
seamen  for  their  purposes,  and  a  demand  for  them  in  the  mer- 
chant service  would  not  greatly  increase  in  time  of  war ;  some 
hundreds  would  perhaps  be  required  for  privateers,  but  this 
would  be  the  only  increase  of  demand.  It  is  the  navy  that  is 
to  blame  ;  the  merchants  make  seamen  for  the  navy,  but  the 
navy  seldom  makes  a  seaman  for  the  merchant  service.  The 
great  evil  which  exists  at  present  in  the  navy  ration  is  allow- 
ing seamen  half  a  pint  of  ardent  spirits  per  day — an  article  that 
they  do  not  require — and  not  giving  them  tea  and  sugar,  articles 
that  they  do  require.  Tea  and  sugar  are  so  commonly 
used,  that  although  classed  with  luxuries,  they  ought  rather  to 
be  classed  with  necessaries.  Soap  is  soindispensibly  necessary 
to  promote  cleanliness,  that  it  ought  to  be  a  part  of  the  ration 
in  the  navy  as  well  as  in  the  army.  These  articles  are  not 
allowed  by  the  government,  and  yet  must  be  used,  and  pur- 
chased by  the  seamen  out  of  their  pay,  at  the  rate  of  fifty  per 
cent,  higher  than  they  could  be  purchased  on  shore,  so  that 
the  pay  of  a  seaman  in  the  navy,  at  twelve  dollars  per  month, 
is  no  more  to  him  than  ten  dollars  per  month  would  be  in  the 
merchant  service  ;  nor  so  much,  for  the  former  has  always  to 
dress  neat  and  appear  clean,  whereas  the  latter  can  wear  such 
4 


38  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

y 

clothing  as  he  thinks  proper ;  two  flannel  shirts  and  two  pair 
of  canvass  trowsers  will  last  him  a  nine  month's  voyage.  Let 
these  things  be  considered,  and  cease  to  wonder  why  we  can- 
not get  seamen  for  the  navy.  The  revenue  cutter  service  is  a 
branch  of  our  public  service.  There  the  officers  have  less 
pay,  and  the  seamen  have  more  than  those  of  the  navy  ;  and 
why  should  that  be  ?  There  is  never  any  want  of  seamen  for 
the  revenue  service,  for  there  they  only  ship  for  six  months, 
and  are  employed  on  our  coast,  where  they  can  have  frequent 
communication  whh  their  friends,  and  are  allowed  greater  in- 
dulgences than  in  the  navy,  where  they  have  to  go  to  foreign 
countries  for  three  years,  away  from  home  and  friends,  and 
often  exposed  to  sickness  unknown  on  our  coast.  Why  those 
who  suffer  most  should  have  the  least  pay,  is  a  mystery  that 
will  not  be  very  easily  solved,  unless  it  is  asserted  that  the 
navy  is  the  most  honorable  and  popular  of  the  two  ;  but  honor 
V  and  popularity  are  sounds  that  are  not  much  prized  by  seamen 
and  on  which  they  would  find  it  hard  to  dine  or  sup.  In  the 
revenue  service  they  do  not  give  the  seamen  grog,  but  they 
allow  them  tea  and  sugar,  which  ought  to  show  that  the  former 
should  be  abolished  and  the  latter  given  in  the  navy,  for  the 
seamen  do  not  require  one  more,  nor  the  other  less,  in  either 
of  the  services. 

I  was  on  board  one  vessel  and  knew  it  to  be  the  case  in 
another,  where  the  captain  gave  an  order  that  no  man  who  was 
in  debt  to  the  government,  should  be  allowed  to  draw  a  single 
article  from  the  purser  unless  he  stopped  his  grog  to  pay  for  it. 
Many  were  in  debt,  and  sooner  than  go  without  tea,  sugar,  and 
soap,  they  relinquished  their  spirits  to  pay  for  them.  If  a  man 
voluntarily  stops  his  grog  he  is  entitled  to  six  cents  per  day  in 
lieu  of  it.  And  if  Congress  will  pass  a  law  at  the  next  session 
to  give  the  seamen  tea,  sugar  and  soap,  as  a  part  of  their  ration, 
increase  their  pay  two  dollars  per  month  and  take  away  their 
spirits,  paying  them  at  the  rate  of  two  dollars  per  month,  on  the 
first  of  every  month  for  it,  the  navy  will  never  have  to  complain 
of  a  want  of  seamen.  Their  grog  will  be  cheaply  purchased 
at  any  price,  and  the  money  paid  them  monthly  for  it,  will  be 
sufficient  for  spending  money,  and  will  prevent  them  from  buy- 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  39 

ing  clothing  or  other  articles  to  sell  again  at  such  sacrifices  as 
has  already  been  stated.  The  citizens  of  the  United  States 
will  never  hesitate  to  pay  public  money  to  purchase  public 
happiness,  but  just  so  long  as  spirits  are  allowed,  all  attempts  to 
improve  the  man-of-war's  man  will  be  time  and  labor  lost. 
Private  individuals  and  societies  may  build  up,  but  the  law  will 
pull  down,  destroy  and  trample  the  very  foundation  of  the 
goodly  fabric  into  the  dust.  The  law  allows  the  seaman  half 
a  pint  of  spirits  a  day,  and  directs  him  to  be  flogged  if  he  gets 
drunk.  This  is  a  manifest  contradiction  ;  give  a  man  spirits  and 
punish  him  for  drinking  it.  It  is  very  wrong  and  improper  to 
keep  money  from  seamen  for  thre»  years  ;  they  ought  to  be 
allowed  a  part  of  their  pay,  and  it  would  answer  a  much  better 
purpose  to  give  them  a  certain  sum  monthly,  than  give  them 
all  they  may  save  in  three  years  at  one  time  to  be  spent  in 
drunkenness  and  debauchery.  At  present  the  pursers  while  on 
foreign  stations  draw  bills  on  the  government,  and  the  money  is 
spent  out  of  the  country,  although  they  do  not  receive  it  in  cash ; 
so  that  that  can  be  no  objection,  for  the  seamen  if  they  had 
money  advanced  would  have  no  occasion  to  use  any  subterfuge 
to  get  it,  and  would  lay  it  out  in  many  little  articles  of  which 
they  are  at  present  deprived.  It  often  happens  that  there  are 
seamen  who  have  friends  or  relations  to  whom  they  would  wish 
to  bring  or  send  some  small  presents,  but  as  it  is  now,  they 
cannot  do  so,  for  want  of  the  means  to  purchase  with.  There  is 
never  any  money  given  to  them  except  when  they  are  going 
on  liberty  and  then  only  two  or  three  dollars.  How  treasured 
a  small  article  would  be  (brought  from  a  foreign  country)  by 
the  parents,  wife,  or  sister,  of  a  seaman.  A  tiny  thing  would 
save  a  beloved  one  from  oblivion ;  it  would  be  treasured  as 
a  relic ;  it  would  serve  to  show  that  although  away  from  them, 
they  had  not  been  forgotten.  A  dress  brought  from  a  foreign 
land,  by  a  husband,  son,  or  brother,  would  be  more  prized  by  a 
wife,  mother,  or  sister,  than  the  finest  one  that  could  be  pur- 
chased in  our  own  country,  though  of  less  value.  Why,  then, 
deprive  a  seaman  of  doing  such  an  action  ?  or  why  deprive 
those  for  whom  such  an  article  might  be  brought  home,   the 


40  EVILS   AND    ABUSES    IN   THE 

pleasure  they  would  experience  in  receiving  such  a  gift  ?  To 
deprive  a  man  of  the  means  of  doing  good  in  this  manner  is 
shutting  up  the  flood-gates  of  his  heart,  searing  his  feelings 
which  would  have  been  exerted  in  doing  good  and  conferring 
happiness.  It  is  but  too  often  the  case  that  seamen  have  been 
wild,  imprudent  young  men,  but  does  the  affectionate  mother 
love  them  less  on  that  account?  no,  when  the  rest  of  her  chil- 
dren are  by  her  side  at  her  board,  she  heaves  a  sigh  for  the 
absent  one  ;  the  unbidden  tear  waters  her  eyelids  when  she 
sees  a  seaman  pass  her  door, — her  thoughts  turn  upon  him  that 
is  far  away.  The  pillow  is  never  pressed  by  her  weary  head 
but  what  she  thinks  of  him  ;  she  never  awakes  and  hears  the 
storm  raging  without,  but  what  she  dreads  that  her  absent 
one  may  fall  a  victim  to  its  rage.  To  deprive  the  one  so 
beloved  and  so  much  thought  of,  the  satisfaction  of  proving  that 
that  parent's  love  and  interest  was  reciprocated,  is  barbarous. 
This  is  not  the  case  in  a  merchant  vessel ;  the  seamen  there, 
are  allowed  one  third  of  the  amount  due  them  at  every  port  of 
delivery.  Why  are  the  seamen  of  the  navy  deprived  of  similar 
laws  ?  When  the  poor  seaman  returns  after  a  three  years' 
cruise  to  his  paternal  hearth  or  the  arms  of  an  affectionate  wife, 
would  not  the  eyes  of  his  dearest  friends  sparkle  when  he  drew 
from  his  chest  some  token,  some  pledge  of  his  remembrance. 

There  is  another  reason,  and  a  very  powerful  one,  too,  why 
the  ration  should  be  remodelled  and  the  pay  increased  ;  and 
that  is,  it  would  prevent  desertion.  If  the  seamen  got  no  grog 
while  on  board,  they  would  be  less  likely  to  think  of  it  when  on 
shore,  in  boats,  or  on  duty,  and  to  obtain  which,  they  often 
commit  a  breach  of  discipline,  and,  for  fear  of  the  consequences 
that  are  to  ensue,  they  desert.  It  very  rarely  happens  that  a 
seaman  deserts  when  he  is  sober.  That  offence,  like  many 
others,  has  but  too  often  its  origin  in  drunkenness.  If  seamen 
were  allowed  money,  they  would  not  have  to  sacrifice  their 
wages  to  procure  it,  and  when  they  had  it  due  they  would  not 
run  away  and  leave  it.  It  is  when  they  are  in  debt  after  many 
months'  servitude,  that  induces  them  to  run.  They  are  dis- 
heartened and  escape  when  an  opportunity  offers,  with  a  view 
to  better  themselves  elsewhere.      Some  years  ago  they  tpok 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  41 

half  of  the  allowance  of  sph'its  from  the  seamen  of  the  British 
navy,  and  now  pay  them  either  monthly,  or  quarterly  for  it; 
they  only  receive  one  gill  per  day  at  the  present  time,  and  I 
have  never  heard  that  the  measure  was  productive  of  any  but 
the  most  favorable  results. 

When  the  law  respecting  the  present  ration  in  our  navy  was 
enacted,  it  was  customary  for  the  officers  to  have  private  liquor 
cases  in  their  state  rooms,  and  the  same  was  the  case  when  I 
first  joined  the  navy  ;  but  now  such  a  thing  is  unknown.  Many 
of  the  naval  officers  are  entirely  abstemious ;  many  temperate, 
and  only  a  very  few  otherwise,  and  the  feeling  against  drinking 
ardent  pirits  is  becoming  so  strong  that  those  who  do  drink  to 
excess  will  have  to  quit  the  service  or  leave  it  aside.  I  do  not 
mean  to  impeach  the  character  of  many  of  our  navy  officers 
with  intemperance,  but  there  are  exceptions  to  all  general  rules. 
Perfection  is  not  to  be  expected  ;  to  come  as  near  it  as  we  can, 
ought  to  be  our  object.  When  I  was  in  the  Lexington, 
on  the  coast  of  Brazil,  nearly  all  the  midshipmen  drew  the  al- 
lowance of  spirits  to  which  they  were  entitled  by  law.  I  do  not 
mean  to  say  that  they  all  drank  it ;  but  some  one  did,  ehher 
hammock  boys  or  some  one  else.  Our  old  stock  of  seamen 
are  dying  off,  as  is  to  be  expected,  and  it  becomes  the  duty  of 
the  government  to  guard  those  that  are  to  follow  them  against 
the  failing  and  vices  of  their  predecessors.  They  may  inherit 
all  their  manly  spirit  and  daring  courage  without  their  bad 
habits, — which  have  brought  many  of  them  to  a  premature 
grave.  I  have  stated  in  a  small  tract  published  on  intemperance 
— how  half  a  pint  of  ardent  spirits  per  day  affected  me  when 
I  first  entered  the  navy,  and  I  have  every  reason  to  believe  that 
it  affects  all  others  in  the  same  way ;  and  if  so,  to  stop  the 
spirits  on  board  of  our  vessels  of  war  becomes  a  private,  public 
and  christian  duty.  There  is  another  very  important  reason, 
why  spirits  should  be  discontinued,  in  addition  to  those  already 
enumerated,  which  ought  to  be  duly  considered.  When  a  sea- 
man is  on  the  sick  report,  on  board  of  a  vessel  of  war,  his  grog 
is  stopped  by  order  of  the  surgeon,  as  drinking  it  would  prevent 
the  system  from  concurring  with  the  use  of  medicine.  This 
induces  many  to  allow  a  certain  disease,  which  is  common  to 
4* 


4^'  $VILS  AN|>  ABUSES  Iff  -tfiBJ 

seamen,  to  prey  oa  them  until  it  becomes  so  wrought  into  the 
system,  that  very  often  it  never  can  be  thoroughly  eradicated y 
or  at  least  not  without  subjecting  the  sufferer  to  a  course  of 
medicine,  and  use  of  mercury,  which  destroys  his  constitu- 
tion for  ever.  When  this  disease  is  first  discovered  by  an  indi- 
vidual, it  might  easily  be  cured  by  a  proper  use  of  medicine, 
but  he  will  not  report  himself,  nor  state  his  situation  to  the 
surgeon,  for  by  so  doing  his  grog  would  be  stopped.  It  also 
often  happens  that  men  when  they  are  on  the  sick  list,  repre- 
sent themselves  to  the  surgeon  to  be  in  a  much  better  state 
than  they  actually  are,  in  order  to  get  off  the  sick  list,  so  that 
they  can  draw  their  grog  again.  They  may  go  off  the  sick  list, 
drink  their  grog,  and  drive  round  the  decks  for  a  time,  and  at 
length  are  compelled  to  go  on  the  surgeon's  hands  again,  in  a 
great  deal  worse  state  than  what  they  were  in  the  first  place. 
When  asked  why  they  do  not  go  on  the  sick  report,  they  reply, 
"  do  you  think  1  want  to  lose  my  grog."  This  is  the  reason 
why  there  are  so  many  aggravated  cases  of  this  disease  on  board 
of  our  vessels  of  war.  The  surgeon  is  not  aware  of  its  existence 
until  it  has  gone  so  far  as  to  defy  his  skill  and  the  power  of 
medicine,  except  such  as,  if  used,  will  ruin  the  constitution. 
I  have  known  many  instances  of  this  nature,  and  every  surgeon 
in  the  navy  will  confirm  the  same.  Drunkenness  leads  to  many 
other  vices,  especially  lying.  I  heard  the  late  Captain  Mix 
say  that  he  never  would  ask  a  man  brought  before  him  for 
drunkenness,  where  he  got  his  liquor,  for  said  he,  *'  he  will  be 
sure  to  tell  me  that  he  found  it  under  a  gun,  or  some  other  im- 
proper story,  thereby  adding  falsehood  to  his  other  offence." 
In  the  British  navy,  the  spirits  are  mixed,  one  pint  of  spirits  to 
two  of  water,  but  in  ours  it  is  frequently  served  in  its  pure  state 
in  the  morning,  and  what  can  be  more  pernicious  than  drinking 
one-third  of  half  a  pint  of  spirits  on  an  empty  stomach  ?  We 
have  at  present  at  all  our  naval  stations,  a  number  of  boys  ship- 
ped for  the  navy.  By  taking  away  spirits  from  seamen,  these 
youth  when  they  arrive  at  manhood,  will  never  think  of  drink- 
ing. But  let  it  be  daily  served  before  their  eyes,  and  when 
they  arrive  at  man's  years,  they  will  think  they  ought  to  drink 
as  a  matter  of  course,  and  will  be  of  opinion  that  it  will  form  a 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  43 

very  necessary  requisite  in  the  character  of  a  seaman.  This 
very  period  is  a  time  pregnant  with  every  good  to  the  navy 
and  country,  and  this  period  ought  to  be  taken  advantage  of  by 
abohshing  the  use  of  ardent  spirits  as  a  part  of  the  ration. 
Every  friend  to  the  navy  and  to  seamen  ought  to  make  every 
exertion  and  strain  every  nerve,  for  if  this  favorable  opportu- 
nity is  lost  to  improve  the  character  of  men-of-war's  men,  it 
will  not  be  regained ;  the  breeze  will  be  lost  that  would  have 
carried  them  safely  through. 

I  cannot  quit  this  subject  without  remarking  that  I  never 
have  known  spirits  brought  on  board  of  a  man-of-war  or  mer- 
chant vessel  by  the  crew,  but  that  it  was  productive  of  some 
mischief,  either  disturbances  amongst  themselves  or  with  the 
officers,  and  frequently  both ;  and  very  often  have  I  known  it 
to  lead  to  punishments  which  otherwise  would  not  have  taken 
place.  The  liquor  served  in  the  navy  by  law,  may  not  pro- 
duce drunkenness,  but  it  exhilarates  the  crew  so  as  to  make  them 
talkative  and  noisy  ;  for  a  proof  of  which  let  any  person  go  on 
board  of  one  of  our  vessels  of  war  before  the  drum  rolls  to  grog 
and  see  what  harmony  and  quietness  there  is  among  so  many 
men  ;  half  an  hour  afterwards  all  is  confusion  and  noise.  It 
would  appear  as  if  every  tongue  was  talking  ;  the  officer  of  the 
deck  may  have  ordered  silence  a  dozen  times,  and  without 
effect.  The  brain  is  in  a  whirl  with  the  effects  of  the  liquor  just 
drank.  This  I  have  often  noticed  and  heard  remarked.  By 
abolishing  the  use  of  spirits  entirely  in  the  navy,  the  constitu- 
tions of  those  who  have  suffered  from  its  devouring  effects  will 
be  enabled  to  recover  their  wonted  elasticity,  and  it  will  pre- 
vent those  entering  the  service  from  falling  victims  to  its  rava- 
ges. On  board  of  several  vessels  in  the  navy  many  men  have 
been  induced  by  their  commanders  voluntarily  to  relinquish 
their  spirits,  and  a  great  inducement  for  them  to  do  so  was  to 
have  the  money  paid  to  them  for  it.  But  that  is  not  always  done, 
and  sometimes  if  any  thing  goes  wrong  aloft  the  topmen  are 
called  down  and  those  who  do  not  draw  their  grog  are  whipped, 
while  others  who  do,  have  it  stopped  ;  so  the  former  to  save  his 
back,  draws  his  grog  again. 


44  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 


CHAPTER    VI. 

Want  of  native  seamen — to  the  extent  that  it  proceeds — abuses 
respecting  protections,  and  the  neglect  of  Custom  House  officers  with 
regard  to  examining  into  the  abuses— leaving  seamen  abroad — reasons 
for  not  taking  apprentices  in  the  merchant  service — benefit  likely  to 
be  derived  from  taking  apprentices,  and  plan  for  the  same — seamen 
of  the  navy,  how  instructed  in  their  duty—  false  statements  made  by 
former  secretaries  of  the  navy  respecting  the  popularity  of  the  navy 
with  seamen,  and  the  injury  which  has  arisen  therefrom. 

The  want  of  native  seamen  for  the  navy  and  merchant  ser- 
vice, has  long  been  felt ;  but  none,  except  those  who  are  thor- 
oughly acquainted  with  both,  services,  are  aware  to  what  an 
extent  this  evil  really  exists.  The  seamen  employed  in  the 
coasting  and  fishing  trade,  are,  in  all  probabilty,  three-fourths 
naturalized,  or  native  seamen ;  but  in  the  navy  and  merchant 
service  not  one  third  are  so.  This  may  appdar  somewhat  sur- 
prising, when  it  is  considered  that  there  is  a  law  in  existence 
which  declares,  that  all  American  ships  shall  be  fully  officered, 
and  two-thirds  of  each  crew  must  be  American  citizens,  and 
such  proof  shall  be  produced,  signed  by  the  collector  of  some 
port  in  the  United  States ;  but  this  is  easily  elucidated,  by  show- 
ing how  this  law  is  evaded,  and  how  these  certificates  of  citi- 
zenship are  procured — which  are  usually  called  protections. 
Before  the  collector  of  a  port  gives  a  protection  of  this  kind,  he 
is  required,  by  law,  to  have  oath  made  before  him,  by  a  respecta- 
ble witness,  that  the  applicant  is  an  American  citizen :  but  how 
many  are  there  in  all  our  large  seaports,  who  are  so  destitute 
of  every  moral  principle  as  to  trifle  with  the  most  sacred  obli- 
gations ?  Sailor  landlords,  or  many  of  them,  at  least,  are  ever 
ready  to  make  oath  to  any  statement,  no  matter  how  false  it 
may  be,  if  it  will  only  answer  their  own  purpose,  and  serve 
their  own  interest :  indeed  I  never  knew,  during  the  whole  of 
the  time  that  I  have  been  amongst  seamen,  that  a  man,  who 
had  no  protection,  ever  failed  in  procuring  one,  by  some  means 
or  other.     I  heard  an  anecdote  of  a  landlord,  who  put  a  newly 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  45 

imported  Irishman  into  a  cradle,  took  him  out,  carried  him  be- 
fore the  collector,  and  made  oath  that  he,  the  Irishman,  was  an 
American,  and  that  he,  the  landlord,  rocked  him  in  the  cradle. 
That  false  affidavits  are  taken,  out  of  number,  to  procure  these 
protections,  every  master  of  a  merchant  ship  can  attest ;  for  it 
is  no  uncommon  occurrence  for  men  to  have  protections  as 
American  seamen,  who  have  not  been  six  months  in  the  United 
States,  and  perhaps  cannot  speak  the  language.  U  he  is  a 
Frenchman,  he  will  say  that  he  belongs  to  Louisiana  ;  if  a 
Spaniard,  that  he  belongs  to  Florida ;  if  a  Dutchman,  that  he 
was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  or  somewhere  about  Albany ; — and 
there  is  so  little  difference  between  the  dialect  of  an  American 
and  an  Englishman,  that  it  is  difficult  to  perceive  the  difference ; 
and  so  long  as  the  collector  receives  the  proof  required  by  law, 
he  is  not  obliged  to  know  to  the  contrary.  In  New  Orleans, 
the  greatest  imposition  is  carried  on  in  that  way.  When  a  ship 
wants  a  crew,  her  articles  are  sent  to  the  shipping  office,  and 
there  the  seamen  sign  them.  If  any  one  has  no  protection,  the 
landlord  furnishes  him  with  one,  for. a  couple  of  dollars,  be- 
longing to  some  other  person,  and  by  whose  name  he  ships ; 
and  very  often  that  protection  has  been  stolen  from  the  rightful 
owner.  In  many  cases  captains  have  protections  belonging  to 
seamen  who  have  run  away  from  them,  or  died,  and  if  seamen 
who  have  no  protections  are  scarce,  they  will  use  those  for  them, 
in  preference  to  waiting,  after  they  are  ready  for  sea,  to  get  a 
crew  of  citizens.  I  am  under  the  impression  that  masters  of 
vessels  have  to  make  oath  in  the  Custom  House,  before  clearing 
out  for  a  foreign  voyage,  that  all  their  officers  and  two-thirds  of 
their  crew^  are  citizens  of  the  United  States.  If  this  is  the  case, 
I  wonder  if  he  does  not  consider  himself  a  perjured  man,  and 
as  such,  liable  to  punishment;  for  many  masters  of  vessels  do 
clear  out,  when  they  are  well  convinced  that  the  law  has  not 
been  complied  with.  I  made  a  voyage  to  Havre,  from  New 
Orleans,  and  there  was  only  one  citizen  besides  myself  in  the 
forecastle.  His  name  was  George  Bartlett,  of  Charlestown, 
Mass.,  and  if  he  is  in  the  vicinity,  he  can  testify  to  the  fact. 
On  our  return,  an  officer  of  the  customs  came  on  board,  above 
the  English  turn,  to  examine  our  articles.    The  crew  were  told 


46  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

by  the  mate,  when  the  officer  was  in  the  cabin,  to  answer  to 
such  names  as  he  told  them.  The  officer  called  these  names 
over,  and  the  crew  answered  to  them.  He  had  protections  in 
his  hand,  given  him  by  the  captain,  and  had  he  compared  the 
men's  features,  age,  height,  &;c.,  he  could  easily  have  detected 
the  fraud;  but  he  was  an  old  man,  and  did  not  appear  to  take 
any  trouble.  The  false  articles,  from  which  the  officer  called 
the  names,  had  been  made  out  for  the  purpose. 

The  next  merchant  vessel  I  went  on  board  of  was  the  brig 
Charles  Joseph,  of  Providence.  There,  too,  we  had  only  two 
American  citizens,  but  there  were  protections  on  board  for  the 
rest.  Two  of  these  men  had  never  seen,  nor  signed  the  arti- 
cles, but  simply  agreed  to  come  on  board,  and  did  so  in  a  hurry. 
Five  of  these  men  left  us  in  Leghorn.  They  were  not  dis- 
charged, but  were  paid  what  was  due  them,  suffered  to  take 
their  clothing,  and  depart ;  and  Italians  and  other  foreigners 
shipped  in  their  stead.  In  this  case  there  were  three  violations 
of  the  law.  First,  the  captain  had  no  right  to  testify,  on  oath, 
that  two-thirds  of  his  crew  were  citizens,  when  he  had  never 
seen  them.  Second,  he  had  no  right  to  receive  them  on  board, 
unless  they  had  signed  articles ;  and,  thirdly,  he  had  no  au- 
thority to  leave  them  in  a  foreign  port.  If  they  came  on  board 
under  false  protections,  it  was  his  duty  to  bring  them  home  in 
the  vessel,  and  give  up  their  protections  to  the  custom  house 
officer  or  collector.  What  statement  he  made  relative  to  the 
men  left  abroad,  1  know  not.  The  officer  who  came  on  board 
in  Philadelphia,  when  the  vessel  arrived,  only  remained  a  few 
minutes,  t  knew  that  the  law  had  been  violated,  and  that  I 
was  entitled  to  one  half  of  the  fine,  if  I  had  caused  the  captain 
to  be  sued  ;  but  I  never  mentioned  the  circumstance  to  any  one 
but  himself.  He  was  going  on  to  New  Orleans,  to  take  charge 
of  the  ship  Denmark,  and  I  did  not  wish  to  give  him,  or  Mr. 
Bishop,  the  owner,  any  trouble,  and  w^ould  not  have  mentioned 
the  circumstance  now,  was  it  not  to  show  that  some  plan  must 
be  adopted  to  remedy  the  evil,  and  do  away  with  the  cause. 

In  Boston  and  other  northern  ports,  things  may  not  be  so 
bad ;  as  it  often  happens  that  the  owners  or  captains  ship  their 
own  crews ;  but  in  New  Orleans  and  many  other  ports,  the  cap* 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  47 

tain  never  sees  the  crew  until  they  are  biought  on  boaid  by  the 
shipping  officer,  (very  often  in  a  deep  state  of  intoxication,) 
when  the  vessel  is  ready  to  leave  the  wharf  There  are  many 
foreigners,  who  are  good  seamen  and  worthy  fellows,  that  wish 
to  remain  in  the  country,  and,  if  they  knew  the  form  to  be  gone 
through,  could  soon  procure  a  protection,  without  being  under 
the  necessity  of  using  fraud  and  deceit  to  obtain  it,  which  would 
simply  be  by  declaring  their  intentions,  and  renouncing  the 
country  of  which  they  were  formerly  subjects ;  but  as  long  as 
landlords  can  get  their  money  from  them  and  ship  them  off, 
their  object  is  obtained. 

There  is  a  good  reason  at  present  why  merchants  or  ship 
owners  do  not  take  apprentices,  and  thereby  raise  a  sufficient 
number  of  native  seamen,  to  navigate  our  merchant  ships  and 
man  our  navy,  unless  such  a  measure  was  put  in  force  by  law, 
and  thereby  made  general  throughout  the  United  States.  A  boy 
on  board  of  a  vessel  for  the  first  two  years,  would  only  earn  his 
victuals  and  clothing ;  the  third  year  he  would  earn  w^ages ;  and 
the  fourth  year,  be  as  good  on  most  occasions  as  an  able  sea- 
man. But  at  present,  if  a  ship  owner  or  captain  takes  a  boy, 
he  will  only  remain  with  him  until  his  services  become  of  some 
value,  and  then  run  away,  and  ship  for  an  ordinary  seaman  on 
board  of  some  other  vessel.  But  if  all  ships  carried  appren- 
tices, agreeable  to  their  tonnage,  runaways  could  not  obtain 
employment ;  and  by  that  means  would  be  under  the  necessity 
of  serving  their  time  out  faithfully,  which  ought  never  to  be 
less  than  four  years,  for  that  time  is  absolutely  necessary  to 
fully  instruct  a  youth  in  the  various  duties  of  a  seaman.  If 
fifteen  years  of  age  when  he  was  bound,  (and  none  ought  to 
go  to  sea  younger,)  he  ought  to  serve  five  years  ;  if  sixteen,  four 
years  and  a  half;  and  if  seventeen,  four  years.  If  this  plan  or 
some  other  similar  one  was  adopted,  a  sufficient  number  of 
seamen  would  spring  up  to  supply  present  wants  and  future 
demands ;  and  some  law  of  this  sort  must  be  made,  or  woe  to 
our  country  in  case  of  war.  The  one  half  of  the  seamen  that 
are  employed  in  our  navy  and  merchant  service  at  present,  are 
drawn  hither  by  receiving  higher  wages,  and  have  no  other  tie 
to  bind  them  to  the  country,  and  would  join  our  enemies  to- 


48  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

morrow,  if  we  were  at  war  with  any  natiorij  and  that  nation 
would  give  tbem  more  pay  than  we  do.  I  do  not  mean  to 
create  any  unfavorable  opinion  against  foreigners,  even  w^ere  it 
in  my  power  to  do  so  ;  but  they  are  not  the  men  which  a  nation 
ought  to  depend  on,  for  the  protection  of  her  commerce,  honor^ 
or  firesides  :  but  we  must  do  so,  from  stern  necessity,  until  some 
law  is  passed  to  enable  us  to  have  those  who  have  a  home  and 
a  country,  and  who  will  be  bound  to  us  by  other  ties  than  hire- 
ling pay.  The  foreigners  that  we  now^  employ,  are  English, 
Irish,  Scotch,  French,  Dutch,  Danes,  Swedes,  Spaniards,  and 
Portuguese.  These,  or  many  of  them,  are  good  hardy  tars ; 
but  they  are  not  ro  be  trusted  to,  so  long  as  they  only  serve  us 
for  the  money  they  receive.  We  must  have  ciii2;ens  and  na* 
lives,  or  woe  to  us :  in  the  hour  of  need,  our  navy  will  be  de- 
stroyed, our  wealth  and  honor  lost,  and  the  stripes  and  stars 
will  be  insulted  with  impunity,  and  driven  from  the  ocean,  on 
which  at  present  they  w^ave  so  proudly.  The  navy  has  at  length 
taken  boys  or  apprentices ;  but  that  must  not  be  looked  to  as  a 
matter  of  any  consequence,  or  be  thought  of  as  in  any  way 
likely  to  benefit  the  merchant  service ;  the  navy  may  bring  up 
man-of  wars'  men,  but  it  cannot  make  such  seamen  as  are  ser- 
viceable on  board  of  a  merchant  ship,  unless  some  other  method 
of  instructing  them  in  their  duties  be  adopted,  different  from 
what  I  have  ever  seen.  Boys  in  the  navy  may  be  put  in  the 
inizen  top — from  that  to  the  fore  and  main  top — and  soon  learn 
to  splice  a  rope,  or  take  in  or  make  sail,  smartly ;  but  these 
things,  however  requisite,  are  by  no  means  commensurate  with 
all  the  duties  of  a  seaman.  I  have  known  men  in  the  navy 
forten  years,  who  had  never  been  an  hour  at  a  ship's  wheel, 
in  their  lives — could  not  steer  a  trick,  nor  swing  a  hand  lead 
over  their  heads,  nor  fit  a  shroud,  if  they  had  been  given  the 
ship,  when  it  v/as  accomplished.  Indeed,  the  fact  is  so  notori- 
ous, that  very  few  captains  of  merchant  vessels  will  ship  a  man- 
of-war's  man  if  they  know  it ;  and  the  man-of-war's  man  is 
equally  cunning,  for  he  will  deny,  if  asked  whether  or  not  he 
has  been  in  one,  being  well  aware  of  the  prejudice  that  exists 
against  them.  But,  independent  of  their  not  being  so  thorough 
seamen  in  all  respects  as  the  merchant  sailor,  they  have,  after 


NAVAL   AND    MERCHANT   SERVICE.  49 

being  three  years  in  the  navy,  acquired  a  habit  of  drinking  grog, 
that  not  one  in  ten  of  them  ever  lays  aside.  I  was  shipmate 
with  two  man-of-war's  men  in  a  merchant  ship — they  were 
called  good  men  in  the  navy,  and  so  they  were  in  some  respects 
on  board  of  any  ship,  but  neither  of  them  could  steer  as  they 
ought  to,  nor  could  they  put  a  patch  on  a  sail.  They  had  been 
in  a  top  their  whole  time,  and  only  knew  the  duty  of  a  topman  ; 
so  the  navy  must  never  be  expected  to  bring  up  seamen  for  the 
wants  of  the  merchants.  It  is  only  the  forecastle  men  that  take 
the  wheel  and  lead  in  our  vessels  of  war.  They  attend  to  the 
fore  rigging  also.  The  quarter  gunners  and  quarter  masters  at- 
tend to  the  main  rigging,  and  then  there  are  only  the  mizen  and 
topmast  rigging  for  two  or  three  hundred  men  to  learn  that  part 
of  their  duty  on.  A  man-of-war's  man  has  never  been  used  to 
pull  on  a  fall  all  day,  taking  in  or  out  cargo,  and  is  soon  worn 
out ;  he  knows  nothing  about  stowing  or  breaking  out  cargo  in 
the  hold ;  in  truth  he  is  at  a  loss,  every  which  way  he  may  turn 
himself.  I  am  not  hard  on  this  class  of  seamen ;  I  spent  ten 
years  with  them,  and  I  am  rather  in  their  favor ;  but  the  truth 
ought  not  to  be  concealed,  when  it  becomes  absolutely  neces- 
sary that  it  should  be  told,  in  order  to  place  it  before  all  those 
who  are  interested  in  the  welfare  of  their  country,  and  those 
who  are  entrusted  with  the  power,  and  whose  duty  it  becomes 
to  enact  laws  for  her  benefit  and  protection.  Sometime  ago, 
when  I  was  in  France,  1  saw  an  article,  copied  into  a  French 
paper  from  some  of  ours,  that  the  secretary  of  the  navy  had 
been  called  upon  by  Congress,  to  know  why  the  exploring  ex- 
pedition had  not  been  despatched.  The  paper  also  stated,  that 
seamen  were  very  scarce  for  our  marine,  and  some  other  cir- 
cumstances which  I  could  not  properly  understand,  not  being 
much  acquainted  with  the  French  language.  None  were  near 
me  when  I  saw  this,  yet  the  blood  mounted  to  my  temples  with 
shame,  to  think  that  our  gallant  little  navy  was  suffering  for 
seamen — eating  its  very  heart's  core  away,  as  it  were,  and  no 
hand  stretched  out  to  stay  its  ruin — menibers  of  Congress  still 
slumbering,  or  indifferent  to  this  important  subject — all  scram- 
bling for  offices,  and  devouring  each  other  on  political  grounds, 
but  no  one  lifting  his  voice  to  propose  a  remedy  for  any  of  the 
5 


50  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

evils  that  are  laying  the  axe  to  the  root  of  our  commerce  and 
national  honor.  Let  them  not  vainly  suppose  that  it  will  be 
the  same  as  it  was  during  the  last  war,  should  we  have  a  brush 
with  France  or  England.  No.  Our  navy  is  now  more  efficient 
than  it  then  was  in  ships  and  guns,  but  where  are  the  men  to 
man  or  work  them  ?  Must  they  lay  all  a-taunto  in  our  har- 
bors, for  our  citizens  to  gaze  at,  while  the  few  that  we  may  be 
able  to  send  out  will  be  captured  or  sunk  by  an  overwhelming 
force  ? 

Every  Republic  heretofore  has  perished  from  the  corruption 
and  indolence  of  its  citizens ;  and  we  must  not  expect  that  the 
course  of  things,  or  nature  itself,  is  to  be  changed  for  our 
especial  preservation  ;  but  it  would  appear  so,  from  the  apathy 
that  is  evinced  towards  the  correction  of  evils  that  are  big  with 
ruin  to  us,  as  a  nation. 

Year  after  year  the  secretary  of  the  navy,  in  his  report,  has 
stated  to  Congress,  that  the  naval  service  was  popular  among 
seamen,  when  he  must  have  known  that  such  an  assertion  was 
opposite  to  the  truth,  or  else  he  must  have  been  deceived  by 
the  reports  of  the  officers  entrusted  with  the  duty  of  shipping 
seamen  ;  and  the  latter  I  can  scarcely  believe  to  be  the  case, 
for  the  officers  w^ell  know  to  the  contrary,  and  have  known  it 
ever  since  I  entered  the  service,  at  least,  which  was  nearly 
fourteen  years  ago.  Congress  has  been  deceived  by  these 
misrepresentations,  until  it  is  almost  too  late,  or  at  least  until 
the  evil  has  existed  for  so  long  a  time  that  it  will  take  many 
years  to  remedy  the  injury  that  the  navy  has  received  by  these 
erroneous  statements ;  in  fact  the  want  of  seamen  has  become 
so  notorious  that  the  department  was  a  short  time  ago  com- 
pelled, very  unwillingly,  to  confess  the  truth,  for  it  could  no 
longer  be  held  back  or  disguised.  If  the  navy  was  popular 
with  seamen,  as  represented  a  short  time  ago,  why  is  it  become 
unpopular  now  ?  No  new  i^gulations  have  been  made  to  cause 
a  falling  off,  but  on  the  contrary,  a  number  of  officers,  who 
have  gradually  risen  to  command,  are  striving  by  every  means 
in  their  power,  to  eradicate  evils  and  abuses  which  were  brought 
into  the  service  by  those  w^ho  served  their  apprenticeship  in 
the  merchant  service,  and  who  crept  into  the  navy  through 


NAVAL  AN1>  MERCHANT  SERVICE.  51 

the  stem  ports  with  an  epaulet  on  their  shoulder,  and  brought 
such  rules  with  them  as  they  had  been  accustomed  to,  but 
which  were  entirely  out  of  place  on  board  of  a  vessel  of  war. 
Some  years  ago  a  number  of  landsmen  were  required  for  the 
navy,  and  even  these  were  recruited  away  back  in  the  interior 
of  Pennsylvania  and  New  York,  where  they  had  never  heard 
of  a  vessel  of  war  ;  but  there  they  were  easily  captivated  by 
the  gloss  of  the  shipping  officer's  epaulet  and  treble  gilt  but- 
tons, vainly  expecting  to  wear  such  themselves  in  course  of 
time,  and  in  that  hope  were  somewhat  encouraged  by  those 
who  were  interested  in  their  enlistment.  At  that  time  officers 
had  two  dollars  for  every  man  they  shipped,  and  although  no 
naval  officer  would  assert  a  falsehood  for  that  sum,  yet  they 
would  not  be  so  likely  to  contradict  those  that  were  asserted, 
to  serve  their  own  interests.  Fancy  hat  ribbons  were  kept  at 
the  shipping  office,  which  had  a  considerable  effect,  having  \ 
painted  on  them  in  white  letters,  "  Free  trade  and  sailor's  \ 
rights,"  "  Naval  Tar,"  or  some  other  catch-the-eye  motto.  If 
the  navy  was  popular  why  were  landsmen  not  shipped  on  the 
seaboard,  and  the  expense  of  transporting  these  men  several 
hundred  miles,  saved  ?  It  must  be  obvious  to  every  one,  that 
those  near  our  seaports  were  too  cunning  to  be  so  caught,  and 
the  department  had  to  practice  on  the  unwary,  and  at  the  same 
time  declare  the  navy  was  popular.  I  have  been  in  New 
York  at  different  times  when  the  rendezvous  was  open,  and 
sometimes  we  would  receive  on  board  the  receiving  ship  two, 
three,  four,  or  five  men  per  day  ;  the  latter  number  was  called 
a  great  haul  of  fish,  and  this  was  when  seamen's  wages  in  the 
merchant  service  were  very  low,  say  twelve  or  thirteen  dollars 
per  month.  At  this  time  had  the  captain  of  a  merchant  ves- 
sel carried  his  articles  or  shipping  paper  to  a  shipping  officer, 
he  could  have  had  a  hundred  men  where  only  six  or  eight 
were  wanted.  Seamen  that  would  flock  to  a  shipping  office  in 
order  to  get  a  chance  in  a  vessel,  and  who  had  not  a  shot  in 
the  locker,  their  pockets  so  clean  swept  that  there  was  not 
enough  left  to  pay  toll  for  a  walking-stick,  would  cast  a  shy 
look  at  the  stripes  and  stars  waving  from  the  window  of  the 
naval  rendezvous,  and  never  would  think  of  shipping  there 


52  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

until  they  were  compelled  by  the  threats  of  their  landlords  or 
imposed  upon  by  the  fictitious  stories  of  a  crimp ;  and  yet  the 
honorable  secretary  would  assert  that  the  navy  vvas  popular,  in 
the  face  of  thousands  who  could  have  testified  to  the  contrary. 
I  do  not  know  what  doom  befits  the  slave  who  sells  his  country, 
or  the  man  who  neglects  the  interests  of  that  part  of  the  peo- 
ple committed  to  his  care,  until  the  public  service  is  ruined  by 
his  deceit  and  neglect.  I  will  follow  this  matter  still  further, 
and  prove  beyond  the  prospect  of  contradiction,  that  the  navy 
is  not  popular  with  seamen,  and  give  many  reasons  why  it 
should  not  be.  The  man-of-war's  man  ships  for  three  years  ; 
the  merchant  seaman  for  a  voyage  ;  the  latter  goes  to  a  par- 
ticular port,  returns,  and  receives  his  discharge  ;  during  tijis 
voyage  he  may  wear  what  he  pleases,  and  will  have  liberty, 
and  one-third  of  the  pay  due  him  at  every  port  of  discharge  ; 
the  former  is  enlisted  for  general  service,  and  may  be  sent  to 
any  vessel  or  station  for  three  years,  receive  only  a  few  dollars 
of  his  pay  in  money  during  that  time,  and  be  compelled  to 
wear  just  such  clothes  as  his  officers  may  direct,  and  spend  his 
hard-earned  pay  for  soap  to  wash  his  clothes  every  other  day, 
and  scrub  hammocks  and  bags  once  a  week.  The  merchant 
seaman  has  his  wages  in  cash,  while  the  greater  part  of  the 
man-of-war's  man's  goes  to  the  purser.  Let  these  things  be 
considered,  and  cease  to  wonder  why  the  navy  should  be  un- 
popular. This  is  without  mentioning  the  very  great  effect  that 
the  word  flogging  must  have  on  every  man's  nerves.  The 
fact  is  notorious,  at  present,  that  we  have  three  or  four 
sloops  of  war  and  two  or  three  frigates  which  are  nearly  ready 
for  sea,  and  there  is  not  one  quarter  enough  of  men  to  man 
them,  nor  can  they  be  shipped,  although  we  have  a  rendezvous 
in  all  our  principal  seaports  for  that  purpose.  There  the  ves- 
sels lay,  which  ought  to  be  protecting  our  commerce,  and 
giving  our  officers  experience,  along  side  of  our  navy  yards,  ^11 
a-taunto,  waiting  for  men.  For  shame,  to  say  the  navy  is  pop- 
ular with  seamen.  There  are  perhaps  120,000  seamen  in  the 
United  States,  and  it  is  with  the  greatest  difficulty  we  can  get 
3,000  (annually)  to  ship  in  the  navy ;  this  is  about  one-twen- 
tieth of  the  whole.     Say,  fellow  citizens,  can  the  government 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  53 

be  popular  which  is  opposed  by  nineteen-twentieths  of  the 
people  ?  I  despise  the  whine  of  office  which  will  sacrifice  truth 
and  justice  to  accomplish  its  own  ends.  The  former  secretaries 
of  the  navy  were  afraid  to  tell  Congress  the  truth  for  fear  of  / 
its  leading  to  some  investigations  that  they  would  not  like. 
For  God's  sake,  Mr.  Paulding,  come  out,  "  tell  the  truth,  and 
shame  the  devil." — I  know  you  will  next  session ;  if  not,  look 
out  for  breakers. 


CHAPTER    VII. 


England's  plan  for  raising  seamen  for  her  navy — France — her  laws 
respecting  the  same — neglect  of  the  U.  S.  government  towards  this  use- 
ful class  of  men,  and  the  ruinous  consequences  to  the  navy  and  n^ier- 
chants— apprentices  in  English  vessels,  and  advantage  arising  from 
having  men  and  officers  educated  together,  and  from  being  citizens 
of  the  same  place— sdiool  ships  in  the  river  Thames — hospital  fund — 
ignorance  of  seamen — appeal  to  Congress — bounty  given  to  seamen 
in  the  navy — its  uselessness — deplorable  state  of  the  navy  from  the 
ignorance  of  secretaries — advice  to  Mr.  Paulding. 

Great  Britain,  from  whom  we  are  so  fond  of  drawing 
comparisons,  does  not  depend  upon  her  navy  to  instruct  her 
seamen.  She  has  a  public  school  for  boys  for  the  navy,  at 
Greenwich  ;  but  into  this  school  none  but  the  orphans  or  sons 
of  deceased,  or  worn  out  public  servants  are  admitted,  so  that 
the  object  of  the  institution  is  to  provide  for  them  rather  than 
the  benefit  that  they  are  to  the  navy.  In  that  country  every 
vessel  under  one  hundred  tons,  must  carry  one  apprentice ; 
over  one  hundred  tons  and  under  one  hundred  and  fifty,  two  ; 
over  the  latter,  and  under  two  hundred,  three,  and  so  on.  I 
am  not  positively  certain  that  this  is  the  very  letter  of  the 
law,  but  it  is  near  akin  to  it.  The  coal  trade  to  the  north  of 
England,  in  which  so  many  vessels  are  employed,  is  the  great 
nursery  of  British  seamen.  They  find  their  way  over  banks  and 
through  narrow  channels,  in  the  most  dense  fogs,  by  the  lead 

alone.     They  will  sling  an  apprentice  over  the  side  in  a  bar- 

5# 


•54         ,  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    TU^ 

rel,  and  make  him  heave  the  lead  for  a  whole  watch,  when  he 
is  so  small  that  only  his  head  and  shoulders  are  seen  above  the 
staves.  If  the  weather  is  cold  this  keeps  the  water  that  drops 
from  the  line  off  from  his  clothes  ;  his  feet  and  legs  are  dry, 
and  his  hands  alone  are  exposed.  By  this  means  it  is  not 
uncommon  to  find  English  boys  of  sixteen  years  of  age  that 
can  heave  a  better  lead  than  many  of  our  seamen,  who  may 
have  followed  the  sea  as  many  years  as  the  boy  is  old.  In 
Woodfall's  edition  of  the  Letters  of  Junius,  it  is  stated  that 
coal  to  supply  the  city  of  London  could  be  dug  at  Blackheath, 
and  sold  for  one  half  the  price  that  the  citizens  of  that  place 
now  pay  for  it,  but  the  government  will  not  suffer  the 
mines  to  be  opened,  as  it  would  destroy  the  nursery  for  British 
seamen.  England  has  for  centuries  been  the  strongest  naval 
power,  depending  upon  her  wooden  walls  alone  for  protection, 
and  we  ought  to  benefit  by  her  experience,  as  far  as  we  can  do 
so,  without  encroaching  upon  the  liberties  of  the  people. 
France  has  had  for  many  years  past  an  especial  eye  towards 
the  improvement  of  her  navy.  She  employs  several  brigs  as 
school  ships  for  conscripts  drafted  from  the  interior  provinces, 
only  keeping  a  few  old  seamen  on  board.  These  vessels  are 
not  kept  laying  in  port  ;  they  put  to  sea,  and  one  of  them 
that  I  visited  in  Leghorn,  surpassed  anything  that  I  ever  saw 
in  our  navy  for  neatness  and  perfection.  1  had,  previous  to 
that  time,  thought  ours  the  most  perfect  vessels  afloat,  but 
was  unwillingly  compelled  to  alter  my  opinion.  By  this  means 
France  and  England  will  always  have  a  sufficient  number  of 
seamen  for  any  emergency.  It  ought  to  be  considered  that 
England,  during  the  last  war  that  she  had  with  France,  had  to 
impress  her  seamen,  and  independent  of  that  odious  measure, 
every  seaman  so  impressed  cost  the  government,  on  an  average, 
not  less  than  seventy  pounds  sterling,  exclusive  of  his  bounty 
if  he  volunteered,  and  his  wages.  If  our  country  had  to  pay 
three  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  for  a  few  thousand  seamen, 
besides  their  wages,  it  would  awaken  us  up  to  a  sense  of  the 
evil,  for  any  demands  upon  our  purse,  have  a  wonderful  effect 
upon  our  ideas  and  feelings.  It  makes  us  see  things  in  a  different 
light ;  what  was  before  dim  and   obscure  has  become  plain 


Naval  and  merchant  service:.  55 

and  evident,  and  this  wonderful  alteration  is  produced  by  the 
power  of  money  ;  and  from  niggardly  economy  our  country  is 
suffered  to  run  to  the  brink  of  ruin.  The  laws  of  France  do 
not  permit  a  seaman  to  leave  the  country  and  serve  under  a 
foreign  flag.  Many  of  them,  however,  run  away  from  their 
vessels  in  foreign  ports  and  enter  our  navy  and  merchant  ser- 
vice ;  but  if  ever  they  are  caught  again  in  France,  they  are 
sent  on  board  a  vessel  of  war  immediately.  When  I  was  in 
the  ship  Olympia,  of  New  Orleans,  we  had  a  Frenchman  on 
board,  and  on  the  morning  that  we  were  ready  to  sail  from 
Havre,  a  gens  d'arme  took  him  up  and  carried  him  before  the 
police,  as  it  had  been  ascertained  that  he  was  a  citizen  of 
France.  The  man  had  been  a  long  time  in  the  United  States, 
and  told  the  commissary  of  the  police  that  he  was  born  in 
Louisiana.  The  officer  knew  from  his  accent  that  this  vi^as 
false,  but  as  no  proof  was  adduced  to  the  contrary,  the  officer 
did  not  appear  disposed  to  rob  the  ship  or  detain  her,  and 
allowed  the  man  to  go  on  board  again,  telling  him  to  be  very 
careful  not  to  come  to  Havre  again ;  and  his  advice  was  not 
thrown  away,  for  the  poor  sailor  was  so  frightened  that  it  is 
not  to  be  supposed  that  ever  he  will  return  to  his  native  country 
again.  I  cannot  forbear  repeating  a  remark  made  by  the  com- 
missary. He  said  that  seamen  left  France,  their  native  country, 
to  go  to  the  United  States  for  greater  wages.  He  could  not 
see  that  they  were  benefitted  by  the  exchange.  The  French 
seamen,  who  remained  under  their  own  flag,  could  dress  as 
well,  and  apparently  have  as  much  money  to  spend  as  those 
who  left  it.  If  they  did  get  more  wages,  they  at  the  same 
time  acquired  a  habit  of  spending  it  in  dissipation,  which  evil 
more  than  counterbalanced  the  difference  in  the  pay.  It  will 
be  seen  from  these  obvious  truths,  that  those  two  powerful 
European  nations  take  an  especial  interest  in  the  welfare  of 
their  seamen,  whereas  in  the  United  States  they  are  entirely 
neglected.  Can  any  law  be  pointed  out  that  has  been  en- 
acted for  their  benefit  ?  or  has  any  institution  been  opened  for 
their  instruction  ?  None.  Our  commerce  is  daily  increasing, 
and  those  who  are  the  main  springs  of  that  commerce  are 
neglected,  and  we  have  to  look  to  foreigners  for  assistance  in 


56  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

navigating  vessels,  because  no  law  has  been  enacted  to   en- 
courage natives  to  embark  in  them. 

In  England  boys  are  sent  to  sea  very  young,  and  many  of 
them  serve  an  apprenticeship  of  seven  years:  but  this  is  wrong. 
When  they  are  sent  to  sea  so  young  their  education  is  neg- 
lected, and  they  are  never  calculated  to  fill  any  other  situation 
than  that  of  "  common  Jack."  In  our  country,  if  boys  are 
sent  to  sea,  they  should  not  be  sent  so  very  young ;  their 
principles  ought  to  be  formed  in  some  measure  before  they  are 
thrust  out  on  the  world,  to  buffet  with  fortune ;  and  some  atten- 
tion ought  to  be  paid  to  their  education,  by  which,  if  merito- 
rious, they  would  be  found  qualified  to  fill  higher  stations.  Nor 
should  they  be  subject  to  the  brutal  and  unfeeling  treatment 
which  they  but  too  often  receive  on  board  of  English  vessels. 
When  the  demoralizing  vice  of  intemperance  is  driven  out 
from  among  seamen,  parents  will  no  longer  hesitate  to  send 
their  sons  to  sea,  if  such  is  the  bent  of  their  inclination,  espe- 
cially if  they  can  get  them  apprenticed  to  good  ship  owners. 
And  when  dissipation  no  longer  exists,  seamen  will  be  found 
ready  to  receive  the  moral  instruction  which  they  so  much 
require,  and  immoral,  obscene  and  blasphemous  language  will 
no  longer  be  heard  on  the  forecastle  nor  quarter  deck.  One 
of  the  happy  results  of  having  apprentices  would  be  that  some 
would  become  masters  and  others  mates,  by  which  means  a 
sympathy  of  reciprocal  feeling  would  exist  between  the  officers 
and  crew,  a  feeling  of  respect  for  each  other;  the  officers 
would  not  ill  treat  the  men,  and  they  would  be  obeyed  with 
alacrity.  When  the  duty  was  done  they  could  mingle  together 
and  talk  over  the  scenes  of  their  boyhood,  discourse  of  absent 
friends  ;  and  the  revolts  and  mutinies  that  we  daily  hear  of 
would  no  longer  take  place.  These  disagreeable  and  disgrace- 
ful occurrences,  which  are  a  stain  upon  our  country,  are  as 
often  produced  by  the  tyranny  and  brutal  treatment  of  officers, 
as  from  any  predisposition,  ill  feeling,  or  bad  behaviour  on  the 
part  of  the  seamen  ;  but  both  these  causes  would  be  removed, 
were  officers  and  seamen  citizens  of  the  same  place,  and  bound 
together  by  the  social  ties  of  country  and  friends.  Apprentices 
so  bound  to  a  ship  owner,  would  make  his  interest  their's ; 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  57 

they  would  take  as  much  pride  in  the  safety  and  neat  appear- 
ance of  their  vessels  as  the  officers,  knowing  that  by  good 
conduct  they  would  become  officers  themselves.  When  the 
vessel  to  which  they  belonged  arrived  home,  they  could  for  a 
time  return  to  their  friends,  or  be  sent  to  school  in  order  to  fit 
them  for  the  promotion  that  it  would  be  their  study  to,  deserve. 
There  is  a  school  ship  in  the  river  Thames,  near  London, 
supported  by  individuals,  for  the  education  of  youths  for  the 
merchant  service,  who  are  bound  out,  after  a  time,  to  ship- 
owners by  the  trustees  of  the  school,  with  the  consent  of  their 
parents  ;  but  before  they  are  so  bound  they  are  instructed  in 
the  rudiments  of  their  profession,  as  well  as  in  reading,  writing, 
and  arithmetic.  Such  a  vessel  in  the  harbor  of  Boston  or 
New  York,  would  be  a  great  ornament  to  them  ;  and  certainly 
the  merchants  and  ship-owners  of  both  ports  are  second  to  none 
for  munificence,  benevolence,  pliilanthropy  and  enterprise. 
But  the  state  and  general  governments  ought  to  do  something 
of  this,  or  at  least  do  an  act  of  justice  by  hunting  up  the  hos- 
pital fund,  which  has  been  accumulating  for  the  last  thirty-eight 
years,  and  expend  it  in  some  way  for  the  benefit  of  seamen, 
either  in  the 'erection  of  schools  for  the  young,  hospitals  for 
the  sick,  or  asylums  for  the  disabled  or  worn  out.  Were 
such  to  be  the  case,  sick  and  disabled  seamen  would  not  have 
to  be  maintained  by  private  institutions  or  benevolent  individuals. 
Much  has  been  done  by  merchants,  ship-owners,  &c.  for  sea- 
men, during  a  few  years  past ;  but  much  remains  to  be  done. 
The  light  that  has  been  shed  on  some  of  this  unfortunate  class, 
only  serves  to  show  in  a  more  prominent  measure,  the  dark- 
ness and  ignorance  in  which  others  are  groping  their  way,  and 
proving  how  wide  and  terrible  the  devastation  ignorance  and 
immorality  have  produced  amongst  them.  Many  imprudent 
boys  are  now  immured  in  houses  of  reformation  and  refuge 
who  might  be  sent  to  sea.  It  is  an  old  saying,  "  that  the 
gallows  and  the  sea  refuse  nothing,"  but  in  this  I  do  not  entirely 
concur.  A  ship  is  perhaps  the  best  place  in  which  an  idle 
youth  could  be  placed.  A  restless  will,  impatient  of  the  re- 
straints of  unvarying  labor,  sometimes  may  find  a  field  for  hon- 
est and  useful  exercise  in  the  adventurous  variety  of  a  sailor's 


58  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

life.  The  discipline,  too,  of  a  ship  is  so  strict,  that  idleness  is 
thereby  driven  out  of  the  course  of  its  ordinary  shifts  and  ex- 
pedients, so  that  a  sea  hfe  will  often  produce  a  salutary  change 
in  the  character  of  an  imprudent  but  not  thoroughly  corrupted 
youth.  It  requires  the  same  qualities  to  make  a  good  sailor  as 
a  good  citizen — industry,  perseverence,  obedience,  and  inge- 
nuity. There  is  a  great  evil  existing  from  having  too  many 
foreign  seamen  in  our  ships,  which  is,  that  if  there  is  any  cause 
of  discontent  on  board  of  their  vessel,  the  foreigners  curse  the 
country  ;  this  is  likely  to  breed  a  quarrel  between  them  and 
the  native ;  if  not,  the  American  so  often  hears  his  own  coun- 
try traduced  and  villified,  and  other  countries  praised,  that  he 
soon  experiences  a  diminution  of  the  love  and  regard  for  his 
country,  which  ought  so  deeply  to  be  rooted  in  the  heart  of 
every  American,  and  he  soon  begins  to  look  on  his  own 
with  a  morbid  feehng,  if  not  with  coldness  and  disgust.  On 
the  passage  home  on  board  of  the  last  merchant  vessel  that  I 
was  in,  the  captain  harrassed  all  hands  incessantly,  and  cursing 
his  country  and  vessel,  was  an  entertainment  with  the  Itahans 
(who  composed  a  part  of  the  crew)  at  every  meal.  One  of 
them  even  went  so  far  as  to  propose  taking  the  vessel  and  run- 
ning her  into  a  port  on  the  coast  of  Barbary,  where  he  had 
once  been  a  prisoner.  But  he  was  smartly  rebuked  by  the 
only  American  in  the  forecastle,  and  backed  by  two  English- 
men, who  had  too  much  honor  and  principle  to  do  a  deed  that 
would  haunt  them  to  their  grave.  And  to  this  circumstance 
alone  the  owner  was  indebted  for  the  vessel,  and  the  merchants 
for  the  cargo.  His  name  I  do  not  now  remember,  but  if  I 
,  never  should  hear  that  he  is  at  the  head  of  a  mutiny  I  shall  be 
very  agreeably  disappointed. 

No  seaman  can  be  shipped  for  the  navy  unless  he  declares 
himself  to  be  an  American,  and  if  his  dialect  gives  the  lie  direct 
to  his  assertion,  some  other  proof  may  be  required,  and  the 
crimp  will  furnish  him  with  a  protection  answering  pretty  near 
to  his  age,  height,  and  complexion.  By  the  name  on  the  pro- 
tection, comes  what  are  called  purser's  names.  The  protection 
is  returned  to  answer  for  another,  and  so  the  deceit  is  carried 
on.     I  once  heard  a  first  lieutenant  when  stationing   the  crew 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  59 

ask  every  man  where  he  belonged  ;  some  told  him  the  truth, 
others  a  falsehood.  One  said  he  *'  belang  fan  the  ruver  Albany- 
more  higher  up ;"  meaning  that  he  belonged  up  the  North  river 
above  Albany,  which  was  not  the  case.  He  was  a  newly-im- 
ported Dutchman.  When  the  same  first  lieutenant  was  select- 
ing the  petty  officers,  he  asked  several  if  they  ever  had  been* 
petty  officers  before,  one  told  him  he  had,  "  but  not  in  this  ser- 
vice ;"  thereby  unblushingly  declaring  that  he  was  a  foreigner, 
and  an  applicant  fot  a  petty  officer's  situation  in  the  navy, 
to  the  exclusion  of  the  citizen  or  the  native.  The  ship  was 
the  Vandalia,  and  the  lieutenant  was  J.  Mattison,  to  whose 
credit  it  must  be  told  that  he  did  not  recommend  him  for  the 
situation  ;  and  he  was  afterwards  found  hicapable  of  doing  it, 
even  if  he  had  been.  It  may  now  be  seen  whether  or  not  this 
evil  ought  to  be  remedied.  1  have  confined  myself  to  facts, 
and  any  plan  that  I  have  submitted,  has  been  done  from  con- 
viction ;  by  experience  they  would  be  found  beneficial.  I 
would  wish  this  to  be  considered  by  every  member  of  Con- 
gress before  it  convenes  again.  It  is  true,  perhaps,  that  I 
have  not  followed  the  beaten  track  in  bringing  such  things  to 
the  notice  of  that  honorable  body.  But  I  am  a  common  sea- 
man, not  a  whit  better  than  thousands  who  are  suffering  from 
the  evils  and  abuses  complained  of,  and  Congress  ought 
to  pay  particular  attention  to  me  as  I  am  perhaps  the  first  one 
of  that  class  that  has  appealed  to  them.  I  know  that  the  usual 
way  to  gain  such  points  is  by  flattery  and  appeals  to  their  gene- 
rosity. But  flattery  and  soft  soap,  are  commodities  that  I  sel- 
dom deal  in,  never  to  any  of  the  male  sex  at  all  events.  Even 
if  I  were  to  deviate  from  my  usual  rule  on  this  occasion,  I  could 
spare  so  little  that  they  would  think  themselves  slighted. 
The  difference  would  be  so  great  between  what  I  could  afford 
to  use  and  what  they  generally  receive  that  they  might  be  dis- 
satisfied with  the  change.  I  am  not  a  sycophant.  I  am  not 
applying  to  any  one  of  that  body  to  get  me  into  office,  or  to 
solicit  the  honorable  secretary  of  the  navy  to  reinstate  me  in 
my  former  rank.  I  am  asking  them  collectively  and  indivi- 
dually, to  do  me  and  all  other  seamen,  an  act  of  justice.  I  am 
asking  them  to    look  to   the  welfare  of  the   navy,    and  the 


60  EVILS  AND  ABUSES  IN  THE 

interests  of  the  merchant.  I  am  not  craving  this  as  a  boon  ; 
I  am  asking  it  as  a  right  which  every  member,  if  he  considers 
fairly  and  dehberately  will  acknowledge.  I  expect  it  from 
policy,  I  claim  it  from  justice,  and  I  demand  it  from  gratitude. 

Since  writing  the  foregoing  part  of  this  chapter,  I  have  been 
informed  that  the  secretary  of  the  navy  has  directed  a  bounty 
of  thirty  dollars  to  be  paid  to  every  seaman  who  enters  the 
navy.  If  we  require  three  thousand  seamen  for  the  navy  annu- 
ally, this  will  create  an  additionl  expense  of  ninety  thousand 
dollars,  and  will  go  to  seamen ;  but  if  he  supposes  for  a  mo- 
ment, that  this  will  answ^er  the  object  expected,  1  beg  leave  to 
tell  him  that  he  is  ignorant  of  the  business  with  which  he  is 
interested.  Giving  a  man  thirty  dollars  will  no  more  induce 
him  to  ship  in  the  navy  than  a  Brandreth's  pill  would  cure  him 
of  the  tooth  ache.  Unfortunately  for  seamen  they  do  not  look 
far  enough  ahead  to  perceive  the  benefit  that  would  be  derived 
from  this  great  and  new  scheme  of  giving  a  bounty.  At  least 
one  half  of  the  seamen  that  now  enter  the  navy,  do  so  from 
necessity,  not  from  choice.  When  their  money  is  spent,  they 
ship  in  the  navy  for  the  advance  they  receive,  as  it  may  enable 
them  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  a  landlord,  and  leave  them  a 
few  dollars  for  a  cruise.  Since  this  bounty  is  given  they  re- 
ceive no  advance  on  account  of  pay,  and  as  the  bounty  is  less 
than  the  advance  formerly  was,  the  inducement  to  ship  is  less- 
ened in  an  equal  ratio  instead  of  answering  the  end  proposed. 

It  is  painful  to  reflect  upon  the  injury  done  to  this  arm  of 
national  defence,  by  those  in  power,  and  to  witness  the  subter- 
fuges used  to  hold  an  office  under  government.  What  will  the 
former  secretaries  of  the  navy  say  when  the  falsehood  of  their 
assertions  made  to  Congress,  meets  them  at  every  corner,  and 
which  is  clearly  proved  by  the  means  resorted  to  to  procure  the 
few  seamen  that  we  require  for  the  protection  of  our  commerce  ? 
No  man  dare  say  that  Mr.  Paulding  would  pay  ninety  thousand 
dollars  annually  to  procure  seamen,  if  he  could  do  it  without, 
and  the  absurdity  of  the  plan  will  only  expose  our  weakness 
without  removing  the  evil.  It  is  painful  to  reflect  that  our 
navy,  small  as  it  is,  cannot  be  manned  without  resorting  to 
means  never  used  by  any  other  nation  to  procure   seamen  in 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  "  61 

time  of  peace.  What  avails  our  fine  ships  or  talented  officers, 
if  we  cannot  get  seamen  to  man  the  one,  and  be  instructed  in 
the  art  of  naval  warfare  by  the  other?  and  yet  men  dare  to 
tell  Congress  that  the  navy  is  popular  with  seamen.  If  the 
truth  had  been  told  that  body  years  ago,  some  laws  w^ould 
have  been  made  to  remedy  the  evil,  instead  of  allowing  it  to 
eat  into  the  very  heart's  core  of  the  service.  But  men  pre- 
ferred office  to  their  country's  good,  or  the  benefit  of  that  branch 
over  which  they  were  called  to  preside.  Great  Britain  at  pre- 
sent employs  a  navy  for  the  protection  of  her  commerce,  equal 
to  the  whole  of  ours  including  ships  on  the  stocks  and  in  ordi- 
nary, and  yet  she  has  never  been  compelled  to  give  a  bounty 
to  her  seamen  in  time  of  peace,  but  on  the  contrary,  she  can 
always  have  a  greater  number  than  she  requires.  During  her 
wars  she  gave  a  large  bounty,  and  even  took  men  by  force 
from  their  own  firesides  and  put  them  on  board  of  ships  of  war. 
But  such  an  act  in  our  country  would  be  razing  the  constitu- 
tion to  its  base ;  and  what  else  could  we  do,  if  the  services  of 
twen^,y  or  thirty  thousand  seamen  were  required  ?  Impress- 
ment would  either  have  to  be  resorted  to,  or  our  vessels  would 
lay  at  our  navy  yards  without  men,  and  the  few  that  could  be 
manned  would  be  swept  from  the  ocean  by  the  overwhelming 
force  of  our  adversary.  It  appears  by  papers  laid  before  the 
British  House  of  Commons  some  time  ago,  that  after  being 
compelled  to  press  seamen  for  the  British  navy,  every  one  so 
impressed  cost  the  government  the  sum  of  seventy  pounds 
sterling,  exclusive  of  pay  and  prize  money,  and  without  divine 
inspiration  it  cannot  be  predicted  what  we  are  to  do  in  case  of 
collision  with  any  of  the  maritime  powers  of  Europe,  when  we 
cannot  ship  seamen  enough  to  man  the  few  ships  we  keep  in 
commission  in  time  of  peace.  It  must  not  be  supposed  that 
there  will  be  seatnen  enough  found  in  our  country  to  man  the 
ships  of  our  navy  from  patriotic  motives.  This  may  be  a  bugbear 
held  up  at  present  to  quiet  the  fears  of  the  ignorant ;  but  woe 
to  the  day  when  it  will  become  necessary  to  put  it  to  the  test. 
Jn  case  of  a  war,  the  seamen's  wages  on  board  of  merchant 
ships  would  be  increased,  and  those  that  now  serve  in  the 
navy  from  mercenary  motives  would  quickly  abandon  it  for  the 
6 


i(0B  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN   THE 

better  pay  given  them  in  the  merchant  service.  When  that 
time  comes,  then  will  our  citizens  see  how  much  deceit  has 
been  used  to  blind  them  to  a  true  state  of  things,  by  those 
whose  duty  it  was  to  enlighten  them  on  the  subject.  I  cannot 
call  Mr.  Paulding,  Honored  Sir,  as  I  perceive  by  the  Boston 
Atlas  he  has  been  called  by  an  officer  of  the  navy,  but  I  really 
pity  him  in  his  present  situation  ;  he  has  been  appointed  to  the 
command  of  a  sinking  ship,  and  it  will  require  his  most  vigor- 
ous exertions  to  get  her  high  enough  out  of  water  to  stop  her 
leaks.  This  bounty  plan  is  like  plastering  a  piece  of  tarred 
canvass  over  a  hole  to  keep  the  water  out,  and  will  be  washed 
away  as  soon  as  put  on.  If  he  is  ignorant  of  the  cause  of  the 
unpopularity  of  the  navy  among  seamen,  let  him  find  out  from 
other  than  those  who  address  him  Honored  Sir,  and  when  he 
does  get  to  the  root  of  the  evil,  let  him  lay  a  true  statement  of 
the  facts  before  Congress  ;  that  body  alone  has  the  power  to 
apply  a  remedy.  It  is  vain  in  him  to  suppose  that  his  bounty 
plaister  will  ever  be  productive  of  any  thing  but  injury.  What 
a  handle  it  will  be  to  those  to  whom  we  have  boasted  about 
our  splendid  ships  and  gallant  officers.  They  will  admit  the 
beauty  of  the  one  and  the  gallantry  of  the  other,  but  will  ask 
us, "  where  are  the  men  to  fight  them  ?  you  have  not  got  seamen^ 
you  have  to  give  a  bounty  to  enable  you  to  get  two  or  three 
thousand  annually.    What  is  the  use  of  your  ships  ?" 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

The  ship  Olympia,  of  New  Orleans— -conduct  of  her  officers—for- 
eigners— reasons  of  their-obseqiiiousness — affiay  in  PortMahon — beat- 
ing sailors,  and  driving  them  on  sliore  in  foreign  ports — tobacco  found 
on  board  the  Olympia — result— shipping  men— arbitrary  disposition 
of  the  mate,  and  h.  Dutchman's  appeal  to  the  captain — a  man  beat  with 
a  heavy  belaying  pin — no  redress  in  New  Orleans— injury  to  merchants 
and  ship  owners,  from  the  bad  treatment  of  seamen. 

The  ship  Olympia  was,  I  believe,  built  in  Boston ;  but  she 
is  owned  by  merchants  in  New  Orleans,  hails  from  that  place^ 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  63 

and  is  generally  employed  in  the  cotton  trade  between  that 
port  and  Havre  de  Grace.  I  shipped  on  board  of  her  in  Nfew 
Orleans,  sometime  ago.  Her  name  at  that  time  was  held  ia 
utter  detestation  by  seamen,  but  this  I  was  not  aware  of  pre- 
vious to  shipping.  However,  before  the  steamboat  left  us,  I 
saw  enough  to  convince  me  that  she  was  held  so,  deservedly. 
The  pilot  had  not  left  us  at  the  Balize,  before  abuse  and  epi- 
thets were  lavishly  used  by  the  officers  to  the  crew.  The  only 
American  citizen  on  board,  myself  excepted,  was  George  Bart- 
lett,  of  Charlestown,  Mass.  He  was  a  man  of  some  education, 
and  one  who  had  seen  better  days ;  and  we  made  up  our  minds 
to  take  things  as  quietly  as  possible,  and  if  abused,  to  seek  re- 
dress at  the  bar  of  our  country's  laws,  on  our  return.  The 
crew,  eight  in  number,  consisted  of  one  Frenchman,  one  Blue- 
nose,  one  Scotchman,  one  Englishman,  two  Dutchmen,  and 
two  Americans,  exclusive  of  officers,  cook  and  boy.  The  crew 
w^ere,  for  the  most  part,  men  who  could  do  their  duty  better 
than  the  general  run  of  men  shipped  in  New  Orleans,  and  the 
voyage  might  have  been  made  and  ended,  with  pleasure  and 
satisfaction  to  all  parties.  We  soon  discovered  that  the  master 
was  very  capable  in  every  respect  as  a  ship  master,  and  would 
have  been  a  good  conjmander  if  he  had  not  left  too  much  power 
in  the  hands  of  his  mate,  who  was  inexperienced,  abusive  and 
tyrannical,  although  very  smart,  active,  and  an  excellent  seaman, 
for  so  young  a  man.  The  second  mate  possessed  none  of  the 
good  qualities  of  the  others,  but  had  all  their  vices.  He  was 
ignorant  of  his  duty  as  a  seaman,  and  utterly  unfit  for  an  officer, 
by  merit  or  education ;  but  he  took  care  to  follow  in  the  steps 
of  the  mate,  and  lavish  showers  of  abuse,  on  all  occasions,  which 
may  naturally  be  expected  did  not  exalt  him  in  the  opinion  of 
the  crew.  The  mate  had  some  redeeming  qualities :  he  would 
always  knock  off  work  at  a  certain  hour,  and  would  not,  with- 
out cause,  disturb  his  watch  at  night ;  and  when  there  was  work 
to  be  done,  he  was  always  ready  to  give  a  pull,  which  served 
to  redeem  in  part  some  of  his  less  commendable  qualities. 
The  second  mate  had  none  of  these ;  and  in  addition  to  the 
vices  of  the  mate,  he  was  two-faced,  and  a  tale  bearer ;  and  a 
character  of  that  description  in  a  ship,  will  invariably  create  dis- 


64  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

turbances  between  tlie  officers  and  crew,  where  all  might  have 
been  happiness.  The  first  occasion  that  the  mate  resorted  to, 
any  thing  further  than  ill  language,  was  by  beating  one  of  the 
Dutchmen,  who  belonged  to  his  watch,  with  his  fists  and  the 
end  of  the  main  clue  garnet,  a  three-inch  rope,  (an  unlawful 
weapon,)  for  not  answering  him  wdiile  going  up  the  main  rig- 
ging, when  he  ordered  him  to  pull  off  his  monkey  jacket.  The 
night  was  very  cold,  and  the  duty  could  have  been  done  as  well 
with  a  monkey  jacket  on,  as  with  it  off.  The  same  Dutchman 
was  addicted  to  sleeping  on  his  watch  at  night ;  and  for  this 
offence  the  mate  would  beat  him  with  whatever  came  to  his 
hand,  exclusive  of  keeping  him  on  deck,  or  aloft,  at  work, 
when  it  vi^as  his  forenoon  watch  below.  It  was  wrong  to  sleep 
on  his  look-out,  but  keeping  him  on  deck  for  four  hours,  when 
he  ought  to  be  asleep  in  his  berth,  was  a  sufficient  punishment 
without  resorting  to  blows,  or  at  least  should  have  been  deemed 
as  such.  On  several  occasions  the  mate  kicked  and  beat  him 
at  the  wheel ;  and  this  was  an  unlawful  proceeding,  and  as  such, 
ought  to  have  been  punished.  The  other  Dutchman,  his  com- 
panion, frequently  shared  the  same  usage ;  he  was  a  stout, 
smart  looking  young  man,  but  he  took  all  the  mate  gave  him  in 
the  shape  of  kicks  and  blows,  without  resorting  to  them  in  self 
defence.  Indeed  seamen  from  the  north  of  Europe  are  famous 
for  their  patient  suffering  under  such  treatment ;  but  this  ought 
not  to  be  attributed  to  national  sycophancy,  meanness,  or  want 
of  courage,  but  to  circumstances.  When  a  German,  Swede, 
Dane,  or  Prussian,  enters  on  board  of  an  American  ship,  it  very 
often  happens  that  he  cannot  speak  or  understand  a  word  of  the 
English  language.  He  is  willing  to  learn,  and  make  himself 
useful,  in  gratitude  for  the  pay  that  he  is  receiving,  which  is 
probably  treble  what  he  would  have  got  in  his  own  country 
vessels.  Every  time  an  officer  calls,  he  runs  and  answers ;  and 
when  an  order  is  given  him,  he  may  not  comprehend  it  properly, 
but  shows  his  willingness  to  execute  it,  by  a  smiling  counte- 
nance. This  looks  like  cringing  in  him,  while  it  is  only  ex- 
pressing by  his  looks  what  he  cannot  give  utterance  to  with 
his  tongue.  So  strong  does  this  habit  become,  that  before  he 
has  learned  the  language,  it  is  so  deep-rooted  that  it  cannot  be 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  65 

laid  aside.  This,  together  with  their  national  turpitude,  pro* 
cures  for  them  the  name  of  curry-favorers^  amongst  English 
and  American  seamen. 

There  are  fewer  foreigners  in  English  than  in  American  ves- 
sels ;  for  which  there  are  several  reasons.  The  English  mer- 
chant seamen  do  not  receive  as  high  wages  as  ours,  by  one- 
third  ;  and  during  the  war  between  England  and  France,  while 
the  English  seamen  were  serving  for  years  in  the  British  navy, 
and  receiving  small  pay  and  hard  usage,  these  northern  foreign- 
ers (Dutchmen,  as  they  are  called  by  seamen)  were  sailing  in 
their  merchant  vessels,  receiving  enormous  pay,  which  was 
caused  by  the  great  want  of  seamen  for  the  navy ;  the  British 
subject  would  be  pressed  into  the  navy,  and  the  Dutchman 
allowed  to  make  the  voyage  unmolested.  This  created  a  great 
hatred  against  them,  which  has  been  carefully  transmitted  from 
father  to  son,  and  has  been  imbibed  more  or  less  by  American 
sailors,  without  knowing  why,  or  wherefore.  After  the  peace 
between  England  and  France,  the  Dutchmen  were  driven  from 
the  English  marine,  and  took  shelter  under  the  stripes  and  stars. 
So  strong,  even  till  the  present  day,  is  the  feeling  of  British 
seamen,  against  these  men,  that  should  they  ship  in  English 
vessels,  they  would  lead  a  dog's  life.  This  ill  feeling  exists 
against  them  in  our  vessels,  as  their  ignorance  of  the  language, 
or  habitual  sycophancy,  prevents  them  from  entering  into  any 
measures  of  opposition,  with  the  crew,  against  the  officers;  and 
as  our  ship  masters  are  politicians  enough  to  know  that  where 
there  is  not  unanimity  in  a  forecastle,  little  dread  may  be  enter- 
tained of  any  opposition  to  their  authority,  no  matter  how  unjust, 
or  tyrannical  they  may  be ;  and  for  this  reason  Dutchmen  are 
very  often  taken  by  ship  masters  in  preference  to  Americans, 
and  for  this  same  reason  our  seamen  are  fostering  a  hate  against 
them  equal  to  the  English. 

Between  the  English  and  Americans  there  is  less  difference. 
Having  one  common  language,  they  soon  become  one  people. 
As  to  the  Italians,  Portuguese,  Greeks,  Spaniards,  &;c.,  that  we 
have  in  our  merchant  service,  they  are  parvenus,  from  princi- 
ple ;  they  sucked  slavery  and  sycophancy  from  their  mother's 
breast,  and  it  cannot  be  driven  out  of  them :  they  are  as  treach- 
6# 


66  ETILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

erous  and  cowardly,  as  they  are  blood-thirsty  and  subtile.  The 
Frenchman  is  different  from  any,  and  in  the  merchant  service 
generally  agrees  better  with  the  American  than  any  other 
except  the  English.  The  Yankee  may  sometimes  call  him 
Mungey  the  Frog,  or  John  Crapeau,  but  there  is  no  perma- 
nent ill  feeling  between  them,  and  this  does  not  arise  from  any 
want  of  spirit  on  the  part  of  the  Frenchman,  who  generally  re- 
pays it  in  the  same  kind,  by  calling  him  Skankey  Got  d ??. 

The  French  seamen  have  a  just  sense  of  their  rights,  as  fre- 
quent affrays  between  them  and  our  seamen,  at  Port  Mahon, 
have  fully  proved.  American  and  French  seamen  have  never 
niet  on  shore,  in  that  port,  without  a  row  and  fight,  in  which 
the  latter  were  sure  to  come  off  second  best.  Every  American 
ofHcer  and  seaman  who  was  there  at  the  time,  deplored  the 
fatal  termination  of  one  of  those  scrapes,  in  which  a  young 
French  lieutenant  was  killed  by  one  of  the  crew  of  the  United 
States  frigate  Java.  A  party  of  men  from  the  French  and 
American  squadron  were  on  shore,  and,  as  was  usual,  a  row 
was  got  up  between  them.  The  Americans  drove  a  party  of 
French  sailors  over  a  very  steep  hill,  which  overlooks  the  har- 
bor, and  maimed  and  wounded  many  of  them.  A  number  fled 
to  their  ships  for  safety,  and  related  the  circumstances.  The 
officer  in  command  sent  a  party  of  his  men  and  officers  on 
shore,  armed,  to  separate  the  combatants  and  bring  off  their 
own  men.  A  young  lieutenant,  the  son  of  the  then  port  admi- 
ral of  Toulon,  heedlessly  went  among  a  fighting  party  and 
drew  his  sword  to  separate  them.  Some  one  of  the  Americans 
thought  it  was  drawn  against  him,  and,  maddened  with  liquor, 
wrested  the  sword  from  him  and  run  it  through  his  body.  The 
unfortunate  sufferer  was  wrong  in  going  amongst  a  party  of 
drunken  seamen,  but  he  was  too  fatally  punished.  Two  men, 
belonging  to  the  Java,  were  taken  up  on  suspicion  of  having 
committed  the  deed,  and  were  confined  in  jail  many  months ; 
whereas,  Commodore  Crane,  who  then  commanded  the  squad- 
ron, ought  to  have  insisted  on  their  being  tried,  or  given  up. 
After  Commodore  Biddle  took  command  of  the  squadron  they 
were  quickly  liberated,  as  he  was  a  man  not  to  be  trifled  with. 
So  great  a  sensation  did  this  create,  that,  when  the  Java  after- 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  67 

wards  visited  Toulon,  where  the  deceased  French  officer  had 
been  very  popular,  the  officers  of  that  ship  scarcely  dared  to 
land.  On  sucli  scrapes  the  Americans  are  generally  the  ag- 
p;ressors,  for  no  parrot  or  monkey  is  half  so  impudent  as  an 
English  or  American  sailor  in  a  foreign  port ;  they  call  every 
one  a  foreigner,  or  poor  beggar,  while  they  are  the  foreigners. 
But  if  the  native  gets  their  money,  in  most  foreign  countries, 
they  are  content  to  put  up  with  their  abuse.  When  the  Dutch- 
men and  Americans  meet  on  shore,  in  Port  Mahon,  there  is 
no  fighting ;  the  former  humor  the  latter,  and  for  their  obsequi- 
ousness, share  their  grog  and  board  ;  for  with  seamen,  especially 
when  on  shore,  there  is  no  step  between  love  and  hate.  By 
this  means  the  Dutchman  fares  better  than  he  could  upon  his 
own  dolder  of  liberty  money,  and  the  American  might  as  well 
share  it  with  him  as  any  one  else.  As  long  as  I  was  upon  that 
station,  I  never  knew  any  difficulty  between  an  American  sailor 
and  the  natives.  They  administer  to  his  wants,  from  a  damsel 
of  fifteen,  to  a  jackass  to  ride  on  about  the  streets — give  him 
wliat  he  calls  for,  and  he  throws  them  his  money.  But  I  have 
wandered  far  from  my  subject ;  digressions  in  poetry,  I  believe, 
are  allowed;  but  in  prose,  I  suppose  an  apology  ought  to  be 
made ;  and  as  I  have  none  to  offer,  I  will  resume. 

When  we  arrived  in  the  English  Channel,  in  the  month  of 
March,  the  weather  was  extremely  cold,  but  we  had  to  paint 
ship  outside,  and  tar  the  rigging  from  the  truck  to  the  deck ; 
whereas,  in  two  days  in  port,  we  might  have  done  the  whole 
better.  But  no ;  we  must  do  it  at  sea,  and  be  deprived  of  our 
forenoon  watch  and  necessary  rest.  When  we  got  into  Havre, 
we  run  the  ship  on  the  mud  in  the  basin,  as  there  was  not 
water  enough  for  us  to  get  up  to  the  dock  gates.  On  the  re- 
turn of  the  flood  we  were  directed,  when  the  vessel  floated,  to 
haul  in.  A  watch  was  set  at  8,  P.  M.,  with  orders  to  call  the 
mate  at  1,  A.  M.,  but  the  Scotchman  fell  asleep  on  his  watch. 
The  mate  awoke  before  the  time,  and  finding  no  person  on 
deck,  called  all  hands  to  find  out  who  had  the  watch,  and  it 
was  ascertained  who  the  delinquent  was.  The  mate  flogged 
and  beat  him  with  his  fists,  occasionally  kicking  him  with  a  pair 
of  sea  boots  that  he  had  on.     'J  he  second  mata  would  have 


68  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

assisted  him,  but  the  mate  dedined  receiving  it,  and  he  was 
told  by  the  crew  to  mind  his  own  business.  This  took  place 
in  a  foreign  port,  and  the  watchmen  and  dock  masters  must  have 
formed  a  very  favorable  opinion  of  us,  when  they  ascertained 
the  cause.  Bartlett  and  myself  went  with  the  master  to  sign 
the  protest,  the  day  following,  and  he  inquired  the  cause  of  the 
row.  It  was  stated  to  him  as  it  had  happened;  and  when  he 
asked  our  opinion  of  the  affair,  we  told  him  that  that  would  be 
given  in  a  court  of  justice,  in  the  United  States.  From  this 
X  (after  a  consultation  between  the  master  and  mate)  it  was  con- 
cluded that  they  must  either  rid  themselves  of  these  men,  or 
Bartlett  and  myself;  and  they  resolved  to  do  the  former.  In 
addition  to  the  two  Dutchmen  and  Scotchmen  that  had  been 
abused  by  the  mate,  the  Englishman  had  fallen  under  his  dis- 
pleasure, and  every  means  was  resorted  to  in  order  to  harrass, 
and  drive  them  from  the  ship.  Cne  of  them  had  gone  on  to 
the  wharf  to  get  a  glass  of  grog,  and  was  not  absent  more  than 
a  minute,  but  he  was  seen  by  the  mate,  and  on  his  return  he 
was  flogged  and  beaten  by  him  till  the  people  on  the  wharf 
shouted  shame,  and  hissed.    The  mate  openly  told  the  men,  that 

if  they  did  not  run  away  "  he  would  be  d d  if  he  did  not 

throw  them  overboard  before  they  got  home."  The  master 
gave  their  names  to  a  sailor  landlord,  and  told  him  if  they 
wanted  to  run  away  to  give  them  seven  dollars  each,  that  being 
the  amount  due  them.  In  preference  to  suffering  a  continua- 
tion of  the  brutal  treatment  that  they  had  already  experienced, 
and  which  they  naturally  expected  would  increase  instead  of 
diminishing,  they  took  their  clothes  on  shore,  at  noon  day,  and 
left  the  vessel :  the  master  reported  to  the  consul  that  they  had 
deserted,  and  there  the  matter  rested.  On  the  day  they  left 
the  ship,  two  pounds  of  tobacco,  belonging  to  the  Englishman, 
was  found  in  the  forecastle,  by  the  custom  house  officers ;  and 
the  law  in  France  is,  that  all  tobacco  on  board  of  ships  entering 
their  ports,  shall  be  given  up  to  the  officers  of  the  customs,  and 
they  shall  deal  it  out  to  the  crew  as  required  for  use.  The 
men  had  shipped  on  board  of  an  American  brig,  bound  to  Cadiz, 
and  the  master  of  the  Olympia  went  on  board  of  her,  stopped 
four  dollars  of  the  advance  of  three  of  the  men,  and  took  the 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  69 

whole  of  the  man's  advance  (sixteen  dollars)  to  whom  the 
tobacco  belonged,  as  well  as  the  seven  dollars  paid  to  him  by 
the  landlord,  under  the  false  pretence  that  the  vessel  was  fined. 
And  those  of  us  that  remained  on  board  were  directed  to  say 
(if  asked  by  those  men)  that  the  ship  had  been  fined.  And 
when  Bartlett  and  myself  declared  that  we  would  not  counte- 
nance such  fiaud,  the  mate  replied,  "  d — n  you,  I'll  pay  you 
for  it  if  you  don't."  Thus  did  the  master,  after  treating  these 
men  in  the  most  brutal  manner,  cheat  them  out  of  thirty-five 
dollars. 

Before  we  sailed  three  men  were  shipped  in  their  place  ;  a 
fourth  could  not  be  found,  so  we  had  to  go  to  sea.  one  hand 
short  of  our  complement.  French  seamen  are  not  permitted 
(if  it  is  known  to  the  police)  to  sail  under  a  foreign  flag,  and 
we  dared  not  to  take  one  of  them.  Of  the  seamen  shipped, 
one  was  a  native  Anjerican,  one  a  naturalized  citizen,  and  the 
third  a  Dutchman,  but  an  excellent  seaman.  After  we  sailed, 
the  Dutchman  and  the  mate  had  a  dispute^  and  the  mate  told 
him  to  look  out  for  himself  for  he  would  work  him  up.  The 
Dutchman  replied,  "  you  cannot  work  me  up,  tell  me  what 
you  want  done,  and  I  will  do  it."  The  mate,  who  had  hith- 
erto received  such  abject  submission  from  his  countrymen,  ex- 
pected no  less  from  him,  aad  flew  into  a  passion  on  discovering 
his  error.  The  master  heard  the  noise,  ordered  the  Dutchman 
aft,  and  heaped  a  torrent  of  abuse  upon  him  for  daring  to 
return  an  answer  to  his  oflicers.  He  made  use  of  such  lan- 
guage as  I  should  blush  to  repeat.  When  he  had  vented  his 
wrath,  the  Dutchman  very  coolly  spoke  to  him  in  something 
like  the  following  terms,  "  Captain  Gray,  now  I  will  be  heard. 
You  could  get  no  men  in  Havre  when  your  crew  left  you,  as 
your  ship  had  a  bad  name.  You  told  me  and  the  others,  when 
we  shipped,  that  we  should  be  treated  like  men ;  now  fulfill 
your  promise — have  we  been  so  ?  The  weather  has  been 
very  stormy,  we  have  never  had  a  full  watch  below,  and  in 
the  afternoon  all  hands  are  kept  making  sinnet,  which  is  not 
worth  one  cent  a  fathom,  and  bad  language  is  used  by  you  and 
your  officers ;  they  make  threats  and  you  countenance  them. 
I  am  a  man,  sir,  treat  me  as  such,  and  I  will  do  my  work,  but 


70     ,  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

if  ever  one  of  your  officers  strike  me  with  a  weapon  of  any 
kind,  that  moment  shall  be  the  last  of  his  life.  It  is  in  your 
power  to  get  a  good  name  for  your  ship  before  she  gets  home 
yet — a  thing  she  never  has  had.  We  don't  find  so  much  fault 
with  you  as  with  your  officers  ;  restrain  them  within  moderation 
and  all  will  go  well.  When  you  were  chief  mate  of  the 
Marengo,  seamen  had  no  fault  to  find  with  you, — why  is  it  not 
so  now?  Simply  because  you  let  your  mates  do  as  they 
please,  and  you  are  advised  by  them ;  but  they  shall  not  abuse 
me."  These  remarks  brought  tears  into  Gray's  eyes,  and  he 
ordered  watch  and  watch  to  be  given  until  we  got  clear  of  the 
channel,  and  promised  that  there  should  be  better  treatment. 
For  a  time  all  was  comfort  and  happiness,  but  the  villainy  of 
the  mate  at  length  burst  out  anew.  One  morning  after  breaks 
fast  Stillman  (the  American)  was  in  the  galley  lighting  his  pipe, 
the  cook  being  absent,  which  was  against  the  mate's  orders, 
who  observed  him,  as  he  was  ever  on  the  watch  for  something 
to  find  fault  with,  and  cried  ^'come  out  of  that  galley,  G — d 
d — n  you."  "  I  will  come  out  of  the  galley  sir,  but  you  need 
not  damn  me,"  replied  the  man.  The  mate  hesitated  not  a 
moment,  but  dealt  the  man  several  blows  about  the  face,  which 
was  returned  with  interest ;  finding  himself  likely  to  get  worsted, 
the  mate  drew  a  turned  ash  belaying  pin  from  the  rail  and 
struck  the  man  with  it  several  times,  inflicting  deep  wounds  on 
the  head,  as  the  man's  hat  was  off.  The  passengers  interfered  \ 
the  rest  of  the  men  were  below,  and  the  master,  forgetting  his 
former  promises,  took  the  man  aft  and  threatened  to  flog  him, 
and  attempted  to  strike  him  with  another  belaying  pin,  although 
he  was  covered  with  blood,  but  the  passengers  prevented  him. 
Here  was  cruelty  without  cause — and  what  was  the  result  ? 
On  our  arrival  in  New  Orleans,  the  man  went  to  seek  redress 
by  the  usual  means,  (the  law)  but  he  could  not  get  a  lawyer  to 
do  anything  for  him,  unless  he  gave  him  twenty  dollars,  which 
he  did  not  have  to  give,  and  for  want  of  money  was  deprived  of 
justice.  In  our  northern  ports  there  are  plenty  to  assist  sea* 
men,  but  there  it  was  not  the  case,  and  the  mate  and  master 
both  escaped  with  impunity.  The  Dutchman  spoken  of  soon 
fell  into  the  usual  obsequeous  habit  of  his  countrymen,  from 


Naval  and  merchant  service.  71 

which  he  had  been  for  a  moment  roused  by  the  mate.  During 
the  rest  of  the  passage  he  was  as  smihng  as  his  countrymen 
had  been  on  the  passage  out. 

So  well  do  some  ship  masters  know  the  disposition  of  sea- 
men that  they  treat  them  badly  a  whole  voyage,  until  a  few 
days  before  they  arrive,  and  then  change  their  conduct ;  and 
seamen  are  of  so  forgiving  a  nature  that  they  forget  the  whole 
by  the  time  the  vessel  is  along  side  of  the  wharf;  and  for  this 
reason  some  ship  officers  say  that  they  can  buy  a  seaman  with 
a  chew  of  tobacco  and  glass  of  grog.  After  our  arrival  at  the 
Bahze  there  was  nothing  to  be  done  of  any  consequence,  but 
put  the  vessel  to  rights,  for  the  very  good  reason,  that  before 
that,  we  had  been  kept  incessantly  at  work.  The  master  got 
some  tobacco  for  the  crew,  as  they  had  had  none  for  some  time 
previous,  and  this  made  them  say,  "  that  the  ship  was  not  very 
bad  ;"  when  a  few  days  before  they  had  been  swearing  to 
advertise  her  in  every  paper  in  New  Orleans.  1  must  say  that 
in  this  ship  there  were  good  provisions,  and  that  the  master, 
Edward  Gray,  was  a  very  capable  man,  and  a  good  seaman, 
but  he  gave  his  mates  too  much  of  their  own  way. 

1  am  one  of  the  last  men  that  would  wish  to  deprive  a  mas- 
ter of  a  merchant  vessel  of  the  power  sufficient  to  preserve 
his  authority  ;  but  I  know  of  no  situation  in  which  men  can  be 
placed  where  they  can  be  rendered  so  completely  miserable  as 
.on  board  of  a  ship,  if  the  officers  are  disposed  to  make  them 
so,  and  the  master  is  a  man  who  will  not  redress  their  wTongs ; 
and  is  himself  actuated  and  governed  by  caprice,  ill  nature,  or 
a  tyrannical  disposition,  rather  than  by  sound  judgment,  mild- 
ness and  humanity.  If  he  is  a  man  of  this  description,  his 
vessel  becomes  a  perfect  hell,  the  law  has  left  no  alternative 
for  the  crew  but  to  suffer  his  caprices,  whims,  and  tyranny  in 
silence  for  a  long  voyage,  or  else  do  a  deed  that  will  bring 
them  to  the  scaffold,  or  haunt  them  to  their  grave.  Although 
seam.en  are  the  greatest  sufferers,  yet  merchants  and  ship-owners 
are  made  so  in  case  there  is  any  resistance  made  to  the  master's 
authority,  and  they  should  bear  in  mind  the  dying  words  of 
Wilhelms,  executed  at  New  York  for  piracy,  and  the  mur- 
der of  the  master  and  mate  of  the  Braganza.    He  said  ^^  that 


72  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

they  (the  crew)  were  obliged  to  do  If;  the  master  treated 
them  so  badly,  that  he  should  go."  There  is  nothing  to  pal- 
liate the  crime  of  piracy  ;  but  certainly  every  means  should  be 
used  to  have  the  cause  of  it  removed.  Of  all  the  mutinies, 
piracies,  and  murders  that  have  been  committed  on  board  of 
our  merchant  vessels,  few  of  them  have  been  perpetrated  from 
any  other  motives  but  revenge  for  injuries,  and  bad  treatment. 
The  ship  Globe,  the  Braganza,  and  many  others  that  have  no 
doubt  been  destroyed  and  imagined  lost,  have  been  taken  by 
their  crews,  who  w^ere  actuated  solely  by  these  motives.  Few 
indeed  have  been  taken  from  selfish  or  mercenary  motives 
although  there  may  be  a  few  exceptions,  such  as  the  Vineyard, 
&LC.  I  would  never  advise  a  seaman  to  take  the  law  into  his 
own  hands  ;  but  really  it  is  hard  to  draw  a  line  to  show  how 
far  tyranny  ought  to  go  before  resisted.  Running  away  to 
escape  is  often  fatal  to  the  hopes  of  the  seamen,  and  yet  they 
often  resort  to  it,  which  in  many  instances  is  often  injurious  to 
the  owners  and  merchant.  A  seaman,  when  he  runs  away, 
very  seldom  betters  himself.  If  he  gets  a  month's  ad- 
vance from  the  vessel  he  goes  in  he  spends  It,  and  has  to  work 
for  it ;  if  he  gets  his  clothes  from  the  vessel  he  left  he  only 
loses  his  wages ;  but  if  he  loses  both,  it  takes  him  a  long  time 
to  make  up  the  lee  way. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Brig  Charles  Joseph,  of  Providence — apparent  kindness  of  the  cap- 
tain— its  fallacy  proved — flogging  a  seaman— cause  thereof— remon- 
strance of  the  crew  unheeded — provisions— means  of  annoyance  used 
to  punish  the  crew,  who  are  driven  on  shore  in  Leghorn — character 
of  those  shipped  in  their  stead — the  captain's  penuriousness — digression 
— impropriety  of  not  having  a  law  to  regulate  the  ration  in  the  mer- 
chant service— the  present  law  misconstrued. 

When  I  last  sailed  from  New  Orleans,  it  was  on  board  the 
brig  Charles  Joseph,  of  Providence,  George  W.  Frost,  master. 
I  looked  around  me  the  first  morning,  and  from  what  I  saw, 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  73 

was  rather  pleased  than  otherwise.  I  thought  that  as  I  had  got 
on  board  of  a  northern  vessel  once  niore,  1  might  expect  some 
pleasure  from  the  voyage ;  but  it  often  happens  that  people 
reckon  without  the  host.  The  mates  appeared  to  be  fine  men  ; 
the  chief  was  a  New  Yorker,  and  the  second,  Charles  Hickey, 
of  Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  as  smart  a  little  sailor  as  ever  trod  a 
plank  ;  the  master  appeared  to  be  a  pleasant  man  ;  he  kept 
aloof  from  every  one,  only  giving  such  orders  as  were  necessary. 
The  mates  soon  showed  that  they  wished  to  be  obeyed  more 
from  love  than  fear,  and  used  mild  language  instead  of  the 
abuse  so  common  in  many  ships.  As  is  usually  the  case  out 
of  New  Orleans,  when  we  got  to  sea  there  was  much  to  be 
done,  which  ought  to  have  been  done  in  port,  but  is  not,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  high  prices  of  labor ;  but  as  it  was  an  usual 
occurrence,  we  all  set  about  our  duty  willingly.  There  were 
eight  men  in  the  forecastle,  and  they  were  equally  divided  into 
four  parts,  that  is,  two  Americans,  two  Frenchmen,  two  Scotch- 
men, and  two  Irishmen.  They  were  all  good  seamen  except 
the  Irishmen,  and  both  of  them  w^ere  useless  ;  they  had  both 
been  in  a  Nantucket  whaler,  and  that  was  enough  to  ruin  them 
for  life.  We  had  observed  at  leave  off  and  meal  times  that 
the  master  invariably  found  something  to  do  that  had  not  been 
observed  before  ;  but  this  we  ascribed  to  accident  rather  than 
any  wish  to  deprive  us  of  proper  time  at  our  meals,  or  keep 
us  at  work  later  than  was  requisite  or  customary.  Alas,  we 
were  deceived  !  It  was  only  the  commencement  of  a  system 
of  persecution  and  annoyance  that  was  only  to  end  with  the 
voyage.  I  have  omitted  to  state,  that  one  of  the  men  had  what 
is  usually  termed  the  horrors,  (delirium  tremens,)  before  we 
reached  the  Balize,  and  taking  fright  at  something  he  jumped 
overboard,  while  the  steamboat  was  towing  us  down  ;  the  stern 
boat  was  immediately  lowered,  and  the  man  being  an  excellent 
swimmer,  he  was  picked  up  and  brought  on  board,  much  ex- 
hausted. From  the  master's  conduct  to  him  we  were  led  to 
judge  very  favorably  of  his  character  for  feeling  and  kindness, 
and  looked  forward  to  the  end  of  the  voyage  w^ith  satisfaction ; 
but  alas !  we  were  wTctchedly  deceived.  After  we  left  the 
Balize  the  weather  was  fine,  and  the  winds  light,  it  being  in  the 
7 


74  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

month  of  June.  About  eight  days  after  we  had  sailed,  I  was 
awakened  about  half  past  three  o'clock  A.  M.  by  the  master 
calling  loudly  for  the  watch.  I  got  up  from  off  the  fore  hatch, 
where  1  had  laid  down,  for  the  weather  was  very  warm,  to 
endeavor  to  ascertain  what  was  the  matter.  The  morning  was 
fine,  a  light  breeze  scarcely  filled  the  light  sails  that  were  set 
to  invite  it,  and  not  a  cloud  was  in  the  sky.  It  appeared  that 
the  main  royal  halliards  had  not  been  shifted  to  the  windward 
when  the  ship  had  been  tacked  at  two  o'clock,  as  was  custom- 
ary, and  the  master  coming  on  deck  observed  it,  and  ordered 
them  to  be  shifted.  One  of  the  watch  had  gone  aloft  to  do 
so,  when  the  master  only  noticed  one  man  on  deck  with  the 
second  mate,  and  called  for  the  rest  of  the  watch  ;  there  was 
only  one  other  man  belonging  to  the  watch,  and  he  had  gone 
below  to  take  or  use  some  medicine  before  the  waich  was 
called,  which  delicacy  forbade  his  using  in  the  presence  of  a 
third  person,  and  calling  for  him  was  the  noise  which  awaken- 
ed me. 

The  second  mate  had  collared  the  man  and  was  going  aft, 
when  the  master  met  him  in  the  gangway  (having  first  thrown 
off  his  jacket)  and  inquired  where  the  man  had  been.  "In 
the  head,  sir,"  was  the  reply,  and  "  you  lie  G — d  d — n  you," 
was  the  response  of  the  master,  at  the  same  time  striking  the 
man  several  blows  in  the  face  with  his  fists.  "  Don't  strike 
me,  sir,  or  I  will  resist  it,"  cried  the  man.  On  this  he  desisted, 
and  called  upon  the  mates  and  steward  for  assistance,  and 
ordered  the  man  aft  to  hoist  up  the  main  royal.  He  walked 
aft  to  comply,  where  he  saw  the  mates  ready  to  seize  hold  of 
him,  and  again  ran  forward,  they  pursuing  him.  In  the  mean 
time  the  steward  had  brought  out  one  of  the  master's  pistols 
and  laid  it  upon  the  capstain,  which  the  man,  whose  name  was 
Bob,  laid  hold  of  when  pursued  by  the  master  and  mates. 
The  other  Scotchman,  Joe,  was  at  the  wheel,  and  seeing  the 
master  passing  him  in  pursuit  of  the  n  an,  he  let  go  the  wheel 
for  a  moment  and  caught  hold  of  the  master,  asking  him  if 
he  was  going  to  murder  the  man.  On  finding  himself  laid 
hold  of  in  this  manner,  the  master  snatched  the  dog  vane  staff 
from  the  rail,  which  was  a  heavy  ash  stick,  and  soon  laid  Joe 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  75 

hors  de  combat.  In  the  mean  time  Bob,  when  assured  by  the 
mate  that  no  further  injury  was  intended  him  than  confinement, 
he  gave  up  the  pistol  and  submitted  to  be  put  in  irons  down  in 
the  run  of  the  vessel,  where  he  remained  several  days,  fed 
upon  bread  and  water,  and  was  then  released.  It  would 
naturally  have  been  expected  that  the  master  would  have  been 
satisfied  with  what  he  had  done,  but  not  so ;  he  caught  hold 
of  Joe,  assisted  by  the  mates,  and  seized  him  up  in  the  main 
rigging.  The  crew  assembled  on  the  forecastle  and  went  aft, 
to  remonstrate,  but  without  effect.  They  were  ordered  for- 
ward on  peril  of  their  lives,  and  told  that  they  would  be  called 
before  any  measures  were  resorted  to  but  such  as  had  been 
taken,  and  on  this  assurance,  went  forward.  On  board  of  a 
vessel,  seamen  who  are  ignorant  are  generally  easily  advised 
by  those  who  have  any  education,  they  expect  that  they  know 
more  than  they  really  do,  and  if  any  person  who  has  education 
is  disposed  to  be  troublesome  when  a  disturbance  takes  place, 
may  easily  become  so,  or  the  reverse,  as  he  is  inclined.  After 
a  few  minutes  we  were  called  aft,  and  told  what  Joe's  fault  was; 
but  we  remonstrated  against  flogging  him,  as  being  a  punish- 
ment greater  than  the  offence  required,  and  likely  to  be  pro- 
ductive of  much  evil.  But  all  was  unheeded.  One  of  the 
Frenchmen  made  a  loud  appeal  against  it,  he  said,  "  Captain 
Fross,  I  been  a  Chiney,  I  been  every  ways,  I  been  ten  years 
aboar  Merlcan  shep,  nevar  in  me  life  I  see  man  flogg.  I  sail  a 
Providance,  the  Rode  Island,  Nowvey  Yorke,  every  ways, 
naver  In  me  life  I  see  man  in  e  riggin  in  all  the  same  e  dat." 
But  Peter's  logic  would  not  do ;  the  master  proceeded  to  cut 
from  the  whip  of  the  main  top  gallant  halliards  a  piece  of  two 
or  two  and  a  half  inch  rope,  and  inflicted  upon  the  man's  back, 
tied  in  the  rigging,  fourteen  lashes.  The  master  inflicted  the 
blows  himself,  with  his  whole  strength,  and  appeared  as  if  he 
thought  that  none  would  have  done  it  so  well.  When  he  had 
given  the  last  blow  the  man  was  hanging  by  the  lashings,  more 
dead  than  alive,  his  lips  perfectly  blue  and  his  cheeks  of  an 
ashy  hue.  In  this  condition  he  was  suffered  to  remain  for  some 
time,  and  then  taken  down  and  sent  forward,  with  one  of  his 
arms  so  much  sprained  or  twisted  that  he  could  not  use  it 


76  EVILS  AND   ABUSES  IN  THE 

again  during  the  whole  passage  which  was  more  than  seventy 
days. 

All  remained  quiet  for  some  time  after  that,  but  the  master 
took  every  means  to  annoy  and  harrass  us.  The  weather  was 
fine,  and  we  could  not  be  exercised  or  our  rest  broken  in  upon 
by  reefing  ;  but  trimming  sails  at  meal  times,  and  on  Sundays, 
was  repeatedly  and  unnecessarily  resorted  to,  in  order  to  keep 
us  employed  and  prevent  our  taking  a  minute  to  ourselves. 
The  provisions  were  very  bad,  and  molasses  which  is  usually 
allowed  by  American  ships,  on  rice  and  pudding  days,  was 
withheld,  on  the  ground  that  there  was  but  little  on  board,  al- 
though there  was  enough  to  last  for  thirty  days  after  we  arrived 
in  Leghorn.  One  day  Jack,  the  other  American,  carried  the 
dinner  aft,  which  conisted  of  salt  beef,  upon  which  there  was 
no  more  fat  than  on  a  block  of  mahogany,  and  dry  boiled  rice, 
and  asked  the  master  if  he  really  thought  it  such  as  men  could 
work  or  live  upon  ;  he  replied,  '*  it  is  as  it  is  ;  if  you  don't  like 
it  you  can  have  beef  and  bread,"  and  beef  and  bread  became 
the  ration  afterwards.  On  our  arrival  in  Leghorn,  we  were 
put  under  thirty-five  days  quarantine,  and  the  master  soon  as- 
certained that  there  were  plenty  of  seamen  on  shore  to  be  had 
lor  ten  dollars  per  month  (we  had  fifteen)  and  he  directed  the 
mate  to  tell  any  one  that  grumbled  or  found  any  fault,  that  he 
could  go  on  shore  and  would  be  paid  his  wages.  He  well 
knew  that  he  had  gone  too  far  and  was  liable  to  be  punished 
by  the  law ;  he  therefore  used  every  means  in  his  power  to 
drive  the  men  from  the  ship.  The  two  Scotchmen,  the  two 
Frenchmen,  and  the  other  American  left  her ;  leaving  only  the 
two  Irishmen  and  myself  The  two  Irishmen  would  have  gone 
too,  but  they  knew  that  they  could  not  do  an  able  seaman's 
duty.  I  would  have  left  her  also,  but  1  could  not  procure  a 
passport  from  the  American  Consul  to  go  to  join  the  naval 
squadron  in  Port  Mahon,  and  I  could  not  leave  the  port  with- 
out one.  To  have  entered  under  another  flag,  as  the  others 
did,  was  contrary  to  my  inclination.  English,  Scotch,  Italians, 
&,c.  were  shipped  in  their  place,  at  ten  dollars  per  month  ;  this 
was  saving  five  dollars  on  each  man  ;  and  while  in  port  there 
were  plenty  of  Italian  laborers  to  work  as  low  as  half  a  dollar 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  77 

per  day,  without  their  victuals ;  so  that  he  saved  that  also  while 
the  vessel  lay  in  Leghorn.  Fresh  beef  was  cheaper  than  salt, 
and  potatoes  were  cheaper  than  bread,  so  that  he  gave  us  those 
two  articles  to  live  upon  from  necessity.  I  naturally  expected 
that  on  the  passage  home,  as  we  had  nearly  a  whole  new  crew, 
that  the  master  would  make  some  amends  for  his  conduct  on 
the  passage  out,  but  the  very  reverse  was  the  case,  for  the 
weather,  owing  to  the  season  being  further  advanced,  was  un- 
settled and  boisterous,  and  consequently,  his  means  of  annoy- 
ance fearfully  increased.  We  were  thirty  days  to  the  Rock  of 
Gibraltar,  the  greater  part  of  the  lime  being  either  a  calm  or 
blowing  a  gale.  Indeed  we  very  seldom  got  a  whole  watch 
below.  When  we  applied  to  the  master  for  the  afternoon 
watch  below,  instead  of  knotting  old  rojDC  yarns  upon  the  water 
casks  when  the  decks  were  deluged  with  water,  he  replied, "  no  ; 
if  you  say  much  you  shan't  have  your  forenoon  watch  either." 
After  we  left  Gibraltar  and  were  running  down  the  trades,  for 
we  took  the  southern  passage,  he  hit  upon  a  scheme  to  pre- 
vent us  from  mending  our  clothes  or  reading  a  book  on 
Sundays.  We  had  only  one  lower  studding  sail,  but  on  Sun- 
day he  would  have  a  spare  topgallant  sail  got  up  from  below, 
reeve  studding  sail  gear,  rig  out  the  booms  and  set  it  as  a  lower 
studding  sail ;  in  the  afternoon,  take  it  in,  make  it  up,  rig  in 
the  booms  and  unreeve  the  gear.  This  with  slushing  masts, 
trimming  yards,  and  doing  other  jobs  entirely  unnecessary, 
and  which  had  never  been  thought  of  on  week  days,  would 
keep  us  running  the  whole  day.  Repeatedly  has  he  braced 
and  then  squared  the  yards  again,  without  the  wind  hauling 
half  a  point.  The  reason  why  we  made  the  passage  to 
the  southward,  which  is  unusual,  was  to  give  him  a  chance 
to  work  us  like  horses  from  sunrise  to  sunset.  Had  we 
gone  to  the  northward  that  would  have  been  impossible.  He 
was  so  anxious  for  work  that  he  would  call  the  forenoon  watch 
before  it  was  twelve  o'clock  by  the  sun,  and  in  the  evening 
shift  the  watch  in  the  binnacle  so  as  to  keep  us  later  at  night ; 
that  however,  became  so  regular  a  thing  that  we  used  to  laugh 
at  it  in  his  hearing.  At  last  he  broke  the  chain  of  the  watch 
so  that  we  never  looked  for  knock  off  time  until  the  sun  was 


78  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

below  the  horizon.  When  we  had  to  reef,  then  was  his  chance 
to  annoy  us.  He  would  never  take  in  more  than  one  reef  at 
a  time,  from  one  mast-head  to  another.  We  would  travel  un- 
til that  was  done  ;  then  reef  the  mainsail,  come  down,  reef  the 
foresail  and  set  it,  go  up  and  furl  the  mainsail ;  then  wind 
up  with  reeling  the  trysail,  although  it  would  be  blowing  too 
fresh  to  set  it,  and  the  reef  would  perhaps  be  shaken  out  be- 
fore it  was  set  at  all.  By  this  system  of  oppression,  he  would 
sometimes  keep  us  on  deck  twenty  hours  out  of  the  twenty- 
four. 

His  cool-blooded  villainy  was  only  equalled  by  his  parsi- 
mony and  meanness.  A  large  quantity  of  potatoes  were  brought 
on  board  at  Gibraltar,  as  they  were  cheaper  than  biscuit,  and 
those  he  would  make  the  cook  boil  the  night  before  they  were 
wanted  for  loh-skouse  in  the  morning,  and  take  the  skins  oft' 
them  when  boiled  to  prevent  waste.  By  this  meanness  we 
were  deprived  of  our  best  meal,  for  after  the  potatoes  were  left 
in  a  warm  galley  all  night,  they  would  sour ;  and  when  eaten, 
after  being  reboiled,  they  would  produce  a  griping  of  the  bowels 
and  relax.  But  to  recount  all  his  mean  acts  would  fill  a  vol- 
ume. On  the  passage  out,  the  mate  eat  withvhim,  as  is  usual 
in  all  vessels ;  but  any  article  of  luxury  that  was  on  the  table 
would  be  placed  next  to  himself,  out  of  the  mate's  reach  ;  or 
there  would  be  so  little  of  it  that  the  mate  would  be  ashamed  to 
touch  it.  On  the  passage  home  we  got  on  the  coast  in  cold 
weather ;  he  would  not  allow  the  mate  a  cup  of  coffee  in  his 
morning  watch,  and  did  not  allow  him  to  eat  at  the  table  with 
him  ;  and  before  the  chief  or  second  mate  came  to  the  table 
every  thing  but  salt  beef  or  pork  would  be  removed.  This  is 
not  drawing  a  picture  of  what  an  unprincipled  master^  of  a 
vessel  may  do,  but  what  one  has  actually  done,  and  I  presun}e 
that  none  will  be  more  surprised  at  the  developement,  than  the 
owner  of  the  vessel,  Mr.  Bishop,  of  Providence,  who  shall  be 
furnished  with  a  copy  of  this  work  for  Mr.  G.  W.  Frost,  hoping 
that  the  exposure  may  benefit  him.  Had  we  experienced  very 
rough  weather  on  the  coast  the  vessel  would  have  been  lost, 
for  all  confidence  was  gone  between  the  master  and  the  seamen. 
Had  the  cutting  of  a  laniard  carried  away  a  mast,  as  is  often 


NAVAL  AND  MERCHANT  SEKVICE.  79 

the  case,  I  am  sure  it  would  have  been  done,  had  it  not 
been  for  the  trouble  that  it  would  have  given  us  to  replace  the 
the  damage.  I  do  not  owe  Mr.  Frost  any  more  animosity 
than  I  do  any  other  unfeeling  man,  for  1  must  confess  he  treat- 
ed me  better  than  any  one  else  in  the  ship ;  but  if  he  had  fed 
me  upon  chickens  and  starved  the  rest,  that  would  not  have 
made  the  matter  look  any  better  in  my  estimation.  1  will 
now  say  something  of  the  crew^,  to  show  of  what  they  were 
composed  ;  those  shipped  in  Leghorn  were  as  follows :  one 
Englishman,  one  Scotchman,  one  Maltee,  one  Austrian,  and  one 
Italian  from  the  papal  territory.  Never  was  there  such  a  medley 
in  an  American  ship's  forecastle.  It  appeared  like  a  general 
congress,  to  which  every  nation  had  sent  a  representative,  but 
a  few  of  which  could  understand  each  other,  and  thereby  crea- 
ted a  perfect  Babel.  The  two  Irishmen  had  a  gibberish  of  their 
own  ;  the  Englishman  could  speak  Maltee,  and  he  and  the 
Maltee  formed  a  pair.  The  two  Italians  were  another  inde- 
pendent community,  so  that  the  Scotchman  and  myself  were 
the  only  two  that  were  compelled  to  resort  to  the  English  lan- 
guage to  express  our  ideas.  But  their  nations  were  not  more 
different  than  their  habits  and  tastes.  The  treatment  they  re- 
ceived was  bad,  and  that  drove  them  like  a  brood  of  chickens 
of  different  colors  under  one  common  mother  for  shelter.  There 
was  no  subject  upon  which  they  all  agreed  except  cursing  the 
vessel  and  country,  and  that  was  an  entertainment  at  every 
meal.  They  certainly  would  have  hauled  down  the  American 
colors,  if  they  could  have  agreed  upon  what  others  were  to  be 
hoisted  in  their  stead.  If  all  from  the  Pope's  dominions  are 
like  the  specimen  that  we  had,  his  highness  certainly  ought 
to  be  vested  with  divine  power,  for  never  did  I  come  across  a 
more  black-hearted  villain.  Had  I  been  as  ready  as  many 
others  are  to  find  fault  wnth  the  Catholic  religion,  I  should 
have  attributed  his  villainy  to  the  easy  rate  at  which  he  could 
purchase  indulgences ;  but  I  too  well  know  that  that  is  only  a 
weapon  used  by  fanatics  againgst  the  religion  from  which  all 
others  have  proceeded.  It  is  strange  that  men  should  believe 
in  a  Christ  Jesus,  and  so  openly  deviate  from  his  fundamental 
principle  —  "  good  will  to  all  men," — ^as  to  pursue  those  who 


«P  EVILS  AND  ABUSES  IN  THE 

differ  from  them  in  creed  to  the  very  brink  of  destruction,  or  to 
the  shedding  of  man's  blood,  thinking  to  please  God  thereby. 
It  is  horrible  !  Of  the  hundreds  of  different  sects  and  religions, 
each  separately  believes  himself  on  the  right  road  to  heaven, 
and  will  not  suffer  any  one  to  pursue  the  journey  with  him,  un- 
less he  sacrifices  his  opinions  to  insure  him  a  passport  to  hea- 
venly bliss.  Catholic,  protestant,  presbyterian,  methodist,  and 
hundreds  of  others,  are  all  railing  against  each  other;  each 
believing  himself  right  and  all  others  wrong  ;  he  on  the  road  to 
salvation  and  all  others  to  damnation.  Give  me  the  sailor's 
way  of  thinking  before  all  these.  When  he  sees  the  sun  rising 
from  out  of  the  ocean  he  beholds  the  hand  of  his  Maker. 
When  the  tempest  rages  around  him  he  ascends  the  giddy 
mast ;  the  forked  lightnings  flash,  but  he  relies  for  preser- 
vation on  Him  who  provides  shelter  for  the  birds  of  the  air, 
and  without  whose  knowledge  not  one  hair  of  our  head  falls  to 
the  ground.  Him  he  worships  by  muttering  a  prayer  amid  the 
howling  storm,  and  thinks  that  the  next  greatest  way  to  obtain 
mercy  is  by  doing  good  to  his  fellow  men.  How  little  are  sea- 
men known,  and  how  much  has  lately  been  written  concerning 
them,  to  show  them  up  to  the  public  as  the  brute  of  the  field, 
only  governed  by  instinct,  without  any  of  that  pure  morality  or 
sympathy  with  their  fellow  men,  which  would  render  them 
val-uable  acquisitions  to  society.  Alas,  how  false  !  But  1  have 
drifted  foul  of  religion,  a  thing  I  don't  often  do,  so  will  run  out  a 
kedge  and  warp  and  haul  off  for  fear  of  a  broadside  from  some 
religious  three  decker.  But  yet  I  don't  see  why  I  should  not 
worship  God  in  my  own  fashion.  When  I  see  the  sun  rise  over 
the  billow  and  sink  behind  the  same,  when  I  see  the  tempest 
raging  by  his  breath,  and  hushed  into  a  calm  by  his  voice, 
when  I  see  him  hold  the  waters  as  it  were  in  the  hollow  of  his 
hand,  and  offer  him  up  a  prayer  for  his  divine  providence 
and  interposition  so  often  manifested  for  my  preservation ;  is 
that  prayer  not  as  acceptable  as  if  offered  in  a  temple  rais- 
ed by  human  hands  ?  Is  it  not  as  acceptable  as  if  echoed  by 
the  organ  or  made  before  the  shrine  of  a  saint,  or  in  the  open 
fields  at  a  camp  meeting,  by  falling  down  and  declaring  that 
divine  grace   has   fallen    upon    me.      Oh  man !    oh   savage 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  81 

mockery  of  his  holy  name  !  and  yet  you  will  all  join  in  con- 
demning my  way  of  thinking.  Well,  let  it  be  so.  Every  one 
must  join  some  religion  or  he  is  hooted  from  society  ;  let  him 
but  have  hold  of  the  skirts  and  he  is  safe.  There  is  wood 
enough,  said  to  be  of  the  true  cross,  in  different  churches,  to 
build  a  line  of  battle  ship,  and  petticoats  enough,  said  to  have 
belonged  to  the  virgin  Mary,  to  make  sails  for  her,  if  they 
were  only  of  No.  1  flax  canvas  ;  so  there  must  be  a  great  im- 
position in  both  cases,  as  the  cross  w^as  not  very  large  and  the 
virgin's  wardrobe  not  very  extensive.  And  just  so  in  religion  ; 
it  is  a  trade,  which  is  followed  from  interest  more  than  inclina- 
tion, where  thousands  preach  to  tens  of  thousands  what  they 
do  not  practice.  However,  I  have  deviated  from  my  course, 
and  must  bring  up  lee  way. 

The  law  respecting  the  provisions  for  seamen  is  extremely  er- 
roneous. Every  vessel  bound  across  the  Atlantic  must  have  sixty 
gallons  of  water,  one  hundred  pounds  of  salted  meat,  and  one 
hundred  pounds  of  wholesome  ship  bread,  for  every  person  on 
board.  These  articles  are  to  be  well  secured  below  the  deck. 
This  law  was  made  to  provide  against  disasters  at  sea ;  but  It 
is  violated,  for  it  seldom  happens  that  there  is  necessity 
for  such  provision  being  below  deck  ;  but  as  meat,  bread,  and 
w^ater  are  all  the  provisions  enumerated  by  the  law,  it  is  con- 
cluded that  these  are  all  that  the  seaman  can  compel  the  mas- 
ter to  give  him.  It  never  was  the  intention  of  the  law  to  say 
that  seamen  should  be  fed  upon  beef  and  bread,  although  it  is 
often  so  interpreted.  Happily,  however,  our  ship  owners  and 
merchants  find  it  to  their  interest,  to  put  on  board  such  articles 
as  beans,  flour,  rice,  peas,  potatoes,  fish,  coffee,  he.  But  these 
are  not  directed  to  be  put  on  board  by  law,  nor  after  they  are 
on  board  can  the  seamen  compel  the  master  to  give  them  to 
them  as  food,  so  that  a  seaman  may  be  flogged,  starved,  worked 
like  a  slave,  imprisoned,  beat,  kicked  and  abused,  at  the  mere 
whim  of  the  master.  What  more  does  he  require  to  make 
him  as  despotic  as  the  Sultan  of  Constantinople,  but  the  small 
privilege  of  hanging  one  or  two  when  he  pleases  ?  Valuable 
ships  and  cargoes  are  sometimes  in  peril,  because  the  crew  are 
unable  to  do  their  duty.     This  may  be  caused  by  scurvy^ 


^ 


EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 


which  every  man  would  have  after  a  long  voyage,  were  not 
ship  owners  more  humane  than  the  law.  Seamen  certainly 
require,  when  hungry  and  drenched  by  the  storm,  somethmg 
more  than  beef  and  bread.  Coffee  is  much  better  than  spirits, 
which  were  formerly  given,  and  no  merchant  ought  to  send  his 
vessel  to  sea  without  a  sufficient  quantity  for  the  crew.  And 
the  law  ought  not  to  leave  it  in  the  power  of  a  master  to  stop 
such  things  from  seamen.  In  the  navy  the  law  expressly  de- 
clares what  provisions  shall  be  served  to  the  crew,  and  the 
quantity  thereof,  which  is  sufficient  for  any  man  ;  but  in  the 
merchant  service  all  must  depend  upon  the  caprice  of  the  ship- 
master. 


CHAPTER  X. 

Rules  and  regulations  for  the  navy — errors  therein,  and  misrepre- 
sentation— conduct  of  the  depanment  in  investigating  complaints — 
two  courts  martial — articles  3d,  15th,  andSOth,  of  the  navy  rules — how- 
violated — the  U.  S.  ship  Fairfield — cruelty  and  oppression  of  her  offi- 
cers—punishment hy  Lieut.  H — m — r — 'his  death  and  burial— cause 
thereof— Jimmy  Leggs — his  villainy  and  power — his  death — disrating 
officers  contrary  to  law — two  officers  turned  on  shore  from  the  St. 
I^ouis,  by  orders  from  M.  Dickinson,  secretary  of  the  navy. 

The  rules  and  regulations,  which  are  now  in  force,  for  the 
better  government  of  the  navy,  were  passed  in  Congress  at  its 
session  of  1799  and  1800,  signed  by  Theodore  Sedgwick, 
speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  Thomas  Jefferson, 
president  of  the  Senate  and  vice  president  of  the  United  States, 
approved  by  the  president,  John  Adams,  on  the  23rd  of  April, 
1800,  and  put  in  force  on  tlie  1st  of  June  of  the  same  year. 
That  is  now  thirty-nine  years  ago  ;  since  that  period  our  navy 
and  commerce  have  increased  in  a  ratio  unparalleled  in  the  his- 
tory of  any  nation,  whether  ancient  or  modern.  With  this 
increase  many  changes  have  taken  place.  How  far  the  laws 
which  are  now  in  force  for  the  navy  were  applicable  to  it  then 
is  not  for  a  young  man  to  determine,  but  that  they  are  inade- 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  83 

quate  to  its  wants  at  present  is  a  fact  well  known  to  every  one 
in   any  way  acquainted  with  the  service.     At  that  time,  and 
even   now  in    some    respects,   England  was  our    model  ;  but 
although  we  may  profit  by  her  experience,  we  ought  not  heed- 
lessly to  run  into  her  errors.     These  rules  and  regulations  were 
in  a  great  measure  taken  from  those  in  use  ibr  the  British  navy, 
excepting  some  little  alterations  which  were  made  in  considera- 
tion of  the  governments  being  upon  a  different  basis.     Other 
statutes  that  w^ere  then  in  force  in  this  country,  are  no  longer 
in  existence.    They  have  fallen  before  the  hand  of  time  and 
march  of  intellect.     Our  navy  at  that  time  was  entirely  diffe- 
rent from  what  it  is  now.     The  superiors  were  hard^  weather- 
beaten  fire  eaters,  and  could  fight  like  tigers,  but  they  wanted 
that  polish  and  education  which  marks  the  officers  of  a  similar 
grade  at  the  present   day.     Those  old   sea  dogs  had  a  way  of 
interpreting  the  laws  which  has  been  of  infinite  injury  to  the 
service  ;  and  their  method  of  construing  them   has  become  so 
wrought  into  the  navy  that  nothing  but  Congress  can  break  it. 
It  is  only  by  comparing  the  customs  of  the  navy  with  the  laws 
made  by  Congress,  that  the   difference  will  be   perceived,  as 
for  time  immemorial  the  former  has  been  considered  as  power- 
ful as  the  latter.     The  navy  is   purely  aristocratic,  there  is  not 
a  democratic   feature   belonging  to  it,   all  are  ruled  and  kept 
under  by  the  authority  vested  in  the  chief.     When  it  becomes 
necessary  to  delegate  such  authority  to  an   individual  it  is  ex- 
tremely requisite  that  the  person  holding  it  should  use  it  with 
discretion,  or  be   restrained  by  law%  from  using  it  to  the  injury 
of  the  citizen ;  if  not,  there  is  no  protection   for  the  inferior. 
Before  the  present  laws  were  put  in  force,  or  since,  some  evils 
and  abuses  have  crept  into  the  navy  which  nothing   but  the 
strong  arm  of  the  law  can  eradicate,  so  that  however  imperfect 
the  rules  and  regulations  are,  they  are  much  more  abused  than 
defective.     Until  some  other  law  is  enacted,  those  in  exist- 
ence   should  be  followed,  and  wdiere  there  is  no  law  bearing 
upon  any  case,  then  sound  judgment  and  the  customs  of  the 
service,  might  be  resorted  to,  but  not  until  then.      He  who  goes 
beyond  the  law  in  punishing  an  offence,  is  as  great  a  criminal, 
in  its  eye,  as  he  who  commits  the  offence,  and  as  such  ought 


84  EVILS    AND    ABtJSIiS    IN    THE 

to  be  punished.  By  what  principle  of  right  or  justice  can  one 
man  punish  another  for  the  offence  of  which  he  is  himself 
guihy  ?  When  extensive  authority  is  delegated  to  anybody 
of  men,  w^iether  military  or  naval,  some  will  be  found  to 
abuse  it,  to  coerce  those  under  him,  and  if  he  is  high  in  rank 
it  will  be  found  extremely  difficult,  in  many  cases,  to  bring  him 
to  punishment,  as  the  power  of  his  office  may  be  used  to  pre- 
vent it.  This  was  clearly  proved  some  years  ago.  An  officer 
bad  received  injustice  at  the  hands  of  his  captain,  he  returned 
to  the  United  States,  prefered  hiscomplaint,  and  sought  redress 
from  the  secretary  of  the  navy  ;  it  was  unheeded,  he  resigned, 
and  the  circumstances  of  the  case  found  their  way  into  the 
public  papers,  and  so  glaring  was  the  outrage  that  it  w^as  loudly 
disapproved  of,  and  a  trial  was  granted  to  public  opinion, 
although  it  had  been  denied  to  an  individual.  The  captain  w^as 
tried  and  found  guilty  of  the  charges,  and  suspended  for  two 
years.  The  punishment  was  so  light  that  it  was  the  subject 
of  much  comment  in  the  papers  at  the  lime.  There  was 
another  instance  of  a  similar  nature  took  place  on  board  of  a 
sloop  of  war ;  the  commander  abused  some  of  the  officers, 
especially  the  sur2;eon  or  assistant  surgeon,  or  both  ;  I  do  not 
now  remember  exactly  the  minute  particulars  of  the  affair  ; 
they  were  tried,  the  inferior  was  dismissed,  and  the  commander 
was  sentenced  to  be  suspended  for  two  years,  although  he  was 
found  guilty  of  a  violation  of  the  law  for  which  dismissal  was 
the  penalty.  The  inferior  was  not  satisfied  with  this  method 
of  doing  justice,  but  publicly  chastised  the  superior  on  the 
race  course  at  Norfolk,  (Va.)  Some  in  our  navy  have  said 
that  the  law  was  not  made  for  captains,  and  a  few  have  acted 
as  if  that  were  actually  the  fact.  On  the  former  of  these  cases 
the  navy  department  would  not  have  acted  at  all,  had  it  not 
been  for  the  public  press ;  and  to  prevent  being  misunderstood, 
I  must  state  that  the  captain  had  been  guilty  of  oppression  to 
an  officer,  and  punished  him  otherwise  than  by  suspension, 
which  the  law  directs  shall  be  the  extent  of  a  captain's  or  com- 
mander's authority  over  an  officer.  The  rules  and  regulations 
for  the  navy  expressly  state — "  Article  3rd,  Any  officer,  or 
other  person  m  the  navy,  who  shall  be  guilty  of  oppression, 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  85 

cruelty,  fraud,  profane  swearing,  drunkenness,  or  any  other 
scandalous  conduct,  tending  to  the  corruption  of  good  morals, 
shall,  if  an  officer,  be  cashiered,  or  suffer  such  other  punish- 
ment as  a  court  martial  shall  adjudge  ;  if  a  private,  he  may 
be  put  in  irons,  or  flogged,  at  the  discretion  of  the  captain,  not 
exceeding  twelve  lashes ;  but  if  the  offence  require  severer 
punishment,  he  shall  be  tried  by  a  court  martial,  and  suffer 
such  punishment  as  said  court  shall  inflict."  There  is  one 
portion  of  this  article  which  is  but  too  often  violated,  "  profane 
swearing."  Any  person  who  has  been  in  the  navy,  well 
knows  that  it  is  a  dead  letter,  or  at  least  none  are  punished  for 
it,  although  many  are  guilty.  It  would  be  difficult  to  say  in 
what  profane  swearing  consists,  if  an  officer  calls  upon  God  to 
damn  a  man  and  goes  unpunished.  *'  The  articles  of  war  are 
equally  binding  on  officers  and  crew ;  but  what  a  dead  letter 
do  they  become  if  officers  are  permitted  to  break  them  with 
impunity  !  The  captain  of  a  ship  will  turn  hands  up  to  pun- 
ishment, read  the  article  of  war  for  the  transgressing  of  which 
the  punishment  is  inflicted,  and  to  show  at  that  time  their 
high  respect  for  the  articles  of  war,  the  captain  and  every  offi- 
cer, take  off  their  hats.  The  moment  the  hands  are  piped 
down,  the  third  article  of  war,  which  forbids  all  swearing,  &c. 
in  derogation  of  God's  honor,  is  immediately  disregarded.  We 
are  not  straight-laced,  we  care  little  about  an  oath,  as  a  mere 
expletive ;  we  refer  now  to  swearing  at  others,  to  insulting  their 
feelings  grossly  by  coarse  and  intemperate  language.  We 
would  not  interfere  with  a  man  for  d — g  his  awn  eyes,  but  we 
deny  the  right  of  his  d — g  those  of  another.'^  The  offence 
following  that  has  repeatedly  been  committed,  but  less  at  the 
present  day  than  formerly.  In  this  article  and  several  others, 
it  is  expressly  stated  that  for  any  of  the  offences  enumerated 
*'an  offender  may  be  put  in  irons,  or  flogged,  at  the  discretion 
of  the  captain,  not  exceeding  twelve  lashes,^'  But  how  often 
does  it  happen  that  a  man  is  put  in  irons  and  flogged  for  the 
same  offence,  and  few  captains  pay  much  attention  to  that  part 
of  the  law  respecting  the  number  of  lashes.  It  very  seldom 
happens  that  conflnement  in  irons  is  considered  as  a  punish- 
ment. Seamen  lay  two  or  three  weeks  with  their  hands  and 
8 


80  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN   THE 

feet  in  irons,  like  common  felons,  and  are  then  flogged.  The 
old  expounders  of  the  law  understood  it,  and  flogged,  instead 
ofj  or  flogged,  and  that  interpretation  has  been  so  carefully 
handed  down  from  father  to  son,  that  it  is  only  by  referring  to 
the  statute  that  we  can  perceive  their  error. 

There  is  only  one  offence  (theft  under  twenty  dollars)  for 
which  a  captain  can,  of  his  own  authority,  inflict  more  than 
twelve  lashes,  and  yet  it  often  happens  that  seamen  receive  twice 
and  even  thrice  that  number. 

"  Article  15.  No  person  in  the  navy  shall  quarrel  with  any 
other  person  in  the  navy,  or  use  provoking  or  reproachful 
words,  gestures,  or  menaces,  on  pain  of  such  punishment  as  a 
court  martial  shall  adjudge."  I  have  heard  a  captain  tell  a 
boatswain  that  he  was  not  worth  his  salt,  and  swear  by  God, 
he  would  throw  him  overboard.  "  Article  30.  No  command- 
ing officer  shall,  of  his  own  authority,  discharge  a  commissioned 
or  warrant  officer,  nor  strike,  nor  punish  him  otherwise  than  by 
suspension  or  confinement ;  nor  shall  he,  of  his  own  authority, 
inflict  a  punishment  on  any  private  beyond  twelve  lashes,  with 
a  cat  of  nine  tails,  nor  shall  he  suffer  any  wired,  or  other  than 
a  plain  cat  of  nine  tails  to  be  used  on  board  his  ship ;  nor  shall 
any  officer  who  may  command  by  accident,  or  in  the  absence 
of  the  commanding  officer  (except  such  commander  be  absent 
for  a  time  by  leave)  order  or  inflict  any  other  punishment  than 
confinement,  for  which  he  shall  account  on  the  return  of  such 
commanding  officer.  Nor  shall  any  commanding  officer  receive 
on  board  any  petty  officers  or  men  turned  over  from  any  other 
vessel  to  him,  unless  each  of  such  officers  and  men  produce 
to  him  an  account,  signed  by  the  captain  and  purser  of  the 
vessel  from  which  they  came,  specifying  the  date  of  such  offi- 
cer's or  man's  entry,  the  period  and  term  of  service,  the  sums 
paid  and  balance  due  him,  and  the  quality  in  which  he  was 
rated  on  board  such  ship.  Nor  shall  any  commanding  officer, 
having  received  any  petty  officer,  or  man,  as  afor*esaid,  rate 
him  in  a  lower  or  worse  station  than  that  in  which  he  formei'ly 
served.  Any  commanding  officer  offending  herein,  shall  be 
punished,  at  the  discretion  of  a  court  martial."  These  articles 
already  quoted  are  those  which  are  most  frequently  violated. 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  87 

On  board  of  the  United  States  ship  of  the  line  Delaware,  in 
1829,  I  have  seen  the  cats,  with  which  prisoners  were  to  be 
flogged,  put  into  the  harness  cask,  amongst  the  pickle  in  which 
the  salt  beef  had  been,  in  order  to  make  them  hard  and  wiry, 
and  to  increase  the  pain  when  the  skin  was  broken  by  the  lash. 
The  commodore  who  commanded  that  ship,  perhaps  did  not 
order  that  to  be  done,  and  he  may  have  been  ignorant  of  it ; 
but  if  so,  he  was  the  only  person  in  the  ship  ignorant  of  the 
cruelty ;  for  the  punishment  that  he  ordered  to  be  inflicted  at 
the  gangway  was  inflicted  with  the  cats,  just  taken  out  of  the 
pickle  barrel. 

Relative  to  men  being  furnished  with  their  accounts,  &:c.,  on 
leaving  a  vessel,  or  the  captain  not  rating  them  lower  than  the 
station  in  which  they  formerly  served,  is  a  mere  dead  letter. 
Men's  accounts  are  transferred  from  purser  to  purser,  without 
their  ever  seeing  them ;  and  a  captain,  when  a  petty  officer  is 
brought  before  him  for  punishment,  will  tell  the  purser  to  dis- 
rate him,  and  give  him  a  flogging  at  the  same  time.  He  will 
then  turn  round,  and  tell  the  purser  to  rate  him  again,  when  in 
fact  he  never  has  been  disrated ;  and  the  words  are  merely 
made  use  of  to  double  the  law.  I  am  far  from  asserting  that  ^ 
every  captain  will  so  trifle  with  the  laws  made  to  govern  him ;  ^ 
but  many  have  done  it,  openly ;  and  in  order  to  place  the  mat- 
ter fully  at  rest,  1  shall  quote  instances,  which  I  have  seen,  and 
for  any  statement  of  this  nature  I  am  answerable,  at  any  time. 
My  object  is  not  to  expose  persons ;  but  things  ought  not  to  be 
done  which  will  not  bear  exposure.  My  object  is  to  benefit 
seamen,  and  to  remove  those  evils  and  abuses  which  no  good 
officer  can  wish  to  exist  in  the  navy.  We  (the  crew)  were 
drafted  on  board  the  United  States  ship  Fairfield,  on  the  3d  of 
August,  1828,  and  from  that  time  until  she  was  paid  off,  which 
was  in  May,  1831,  I  do  not  believe  that  a  single  day  elapsed 
that  punishment,  by  flogging,  did  not  take  place,-— at  least,  for 
the  nine  months  that  I  remained  on  board,  I  can  answer  for  the 
fact.  At  that  time  there  was  a  custom  in  the  service,  (directly 
contrary  to  law,)  whereby  any  officer  of  the  deck  could  inflict 
punishment ;  but  for  the  credit  of  the  navy  it  must  be  told, 
that  this  has  very  seldom  been  the  case  of  late  years,  for  few 


88  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

captains  will  allow  it,  at  the  present  day,  to  be  done  on  board 
of  their  vessels.  This  was  not  punishment  with  the  cat,  which 
the  law  directs  to  be  the  instrument  of  punishment,  but  with 
what  is  termed  '*acolt:"  this  is  a  piece  of  eighteen-thread 
ratline,  or  one-inch  rope,  and  generally  has  one  or  two  hard 
twine  whippings  upon  each  end.  Twelve  lashes  with  this, 
over  a  thin  frock  or  shirt,  gave  greater  pain  and  bruised  the 
flesh  more  than  the  cat  would  have  done ;  and  it  was  with  this 
instrument  that  the  deck  officers  of  the  Fairfield  punished  the 
men,  and  there  was  no  limit  to  the  number  of  lashes,  but  just 
as  many  as  it  might  please  the  officer  to  order — sometimes  one, 
and  at  other  times  as  many  as  three,  dozen.  Such  punishment 
frequently  brought  the  blood  through  the  shirt,  and  often  left 
the  flesh  black  for  two  or  three  weeks,  and  then  yellow  for  as ' 
many  more,  before  it  healed  perfectly. 

Punishment  on  board  that  vessel  was  not  always  inflicted  in 
the  face  of  day ;  many  a  cruel  deed  has  the  pale  moon  wit- 
nessed upon  her  deck.  This  was  directly  contrary  to  the  law, 
which  only  vests  captains  with  power  to  punish,  and  then  not 
exceeding  twelve  lashes  for  any  one  offence.  Tiiere  is  no  single 
offence  but  what  two  or  more  may  be  made  of  it,  if  such  is  the 
captain's  wish.  Drunkenness,  for  instance,  is  drunkenness, 
disobedience  of  orders — very  likely,  neglect  of  duty,  insolence, 
and  insubordination ;  for  when  liquor  is  in,  wit  is  out,  and  the 
offences  which  a  man  may  then  commit  will  subject  him  to 
three  or  four  dozen  lashes.  I  will  relate  some  occurrences, 
which  took  place  after  1  left  the  Fairfield,  as  I  knew  them  to 
be.     One  night,  while  the  ship  was  on  her  way  from  Smyrna  to 

Mahon,  it  fell  calm,  and  the  officer  of  the  deck,  Lieut.  H r, 

ordered  the  forecastle  men  and  fore  top  men  to  man  the  fore 
clue  garnets  and  buntlines,  and  stand  by  to  haul  up  the  foresail. 
The  v^ord  was  given,  and  the  sail  hauled  up,  but  not  so  quickly 
as  he  wished  it  to  be.  The  yards  were  braced  sharp  up,  and, 
as  there  was  no  wind,  the  fore  tack  and  sheet  blocks  caught  in 
the  lee  fore  rigging,  on  the  ratlines,  and  a  man  had  to  clear 
them.  Nothing,  however,  would  be  taken  as  an  excuse,  and 
he  flogged  the  whole  watch  of  the  forecastle  and  fore  top  men, 
giving  them  one  dozen  each,  apd  ordered  them  forward  to  set 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  89 

the  sail  again.  It  was  set,  and  they  were  ordered  to  man  the 
clue  garnets  and  buntlines,  to  haul  it  up  again.  The  lee  clue 
caught  in  the  rigging  as  before,  and  he  flogged  them  all  again. 
Once  more  the  sail  was  set,  and  hauled  up  with  the  same  re- 
sults ;  in  fact,  it  was  a  moral  impossibility  to  run  the  lee  clue 
right  up,  as  the  heavy  blocks  would  catch  in  the  rigging ;  and 
the  men  were  flogged  three  times,  in  less  than  one  hour. 
There  were  eleven  men  in  the  fore  top,  and  twelve  on  the 
forecastle,  making  twenty-three  men,  punished  with  three  dozen 
lashes  each,  for  no  offence  under  the  face  of  heaven.  Eight 
bells  (midnight)  were  struck,  and  before  the  tyrant  was  relieved 
by  another  officer,  he  ordered  one  of  the  midshipmen  to  tell 
the  purser's  steward  to  stop  their  grog  for  twenty-four  hours. 
This  caitiff,  this  monster,  however,  did  not  long  survive  the  act. 
His  wicked,  abominable  soul,  tempted  him,  after  the  ship  ar- 
rived in  port,  to  propose  the  commission  of  a  crime  for  which 
there  is  no  punishment  prescribed  in  the  naval  code  of  laws — 
it  being  too  unnatural  for  the  legislators  of  our  country  ever  to 
think  of  On  this  horrible  affair  being  reported  to  the  captain, 
he  was  suspended ;  and  finding  that  no  human  being  could  ever 
again  countenance  him,  he  shot  himself,  in  his  state  room. 
The  sentinel,  when  his  remains  passed  over  the  larboard  gang- 
way, turned  his  back.  No  funeral  note  was  heard.  He  was 
huddled  into  the  grave  by  a  single  officer  and  boat's  crew. 
A  fit  end  for  tyrants ! 

There  was  an  individual  on  board  of  that  ship  whose  name 
was  Sterritt ;  but  he  was  better  known  in  the  navy,  by  the  cog- 
nomen of  "  Jimmey  Leggs."  He  had  been  on  board  the  frigate 
Constitution,  as  a  master  at  arms,  and  had  there  incurred  such 
hatred,  for  his  tyranny  and  villainy,  that  his  life  was  unsafe. 
On  the  arrival  of  that  ship  in  Boston,  he  was  sent  on  shore,  in 
order  to  give  him  a  chance  to  escape  the  vengeance  of  the 
crew.  He  fled  to  New  York,  where  he  was  pursued  by  the 
sailors,  and  he  took  refuge  by  shipping  again  in  the  navy,  on 
board  of  the  receiving  ship ;  and  when  the  Fairfield  was  com- 
missioned he  was  taken  on  board,  in  his  former  capacity  of 
master  at  arms,  where  free  liberty  was  given  him  to  indulge  his 

disposition.     This  man  was  destitute  of  every  moral  or  honora- 

8* 


90  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

ble  principle — destitute  alike  of  every  good  feeling  that  reigns 
in  the  human  breast ;  and  the  punishment  which  he  had  at 
different  times  received  from  seamen,  for  his  cruelty  towards 
them,  only  increased  his  malignity  and  hatred.     He  had  been 
several  times  so  badly  bruised  and  injured  by  them,  that  his 
life  was  despaired  of — and  on  one  occasion,  they  had  committed 
an  act  upon  his  person  which  left  him  of  the  neuter  gender,  or 
of  "  no  sex,  at  all,"  as  Byron  expresses  it.     But  he  recovered  ; 
and  the  seamen,  who  are  ever  ready  to  ascribe  to  supernatural 
agency  the  most  common  occurrences,  believed  him  to  be  in 
league  with  his  great  prototype,  the  devil.     When  the  Fairfield 
was  in  Marseilles,  the  crew  attempted  to  hang  him.     It  w^as  in 
the  evening,  and  he  was  sitting  at  the  galley,  drinking  a  pot  of 
coffee,  which  he  had  gotten  by  the  fears  of  one  of  the  cooks ; 
for  none  would  have  given  him  any  thing,  from  love.     A  rope 
was  passed  dow^n  the  fore  scuttle,  with  the  hangman's  knot  in 
it,  and  thrown  over  his  head  ;  the  rest  of  the  conspirators  hauled 
upon  deck,  for  it  was 'rove  through  a  block  on  the  fore  yard  ; 
but,  unfortunately,  he  caught  under  one  of  the  hammocks  w^hile 
making  his  unexpected  exit,  and  got  his  hands  between  his 
neck  and  the  rope,  which  gave  him  a  chance  to  shout  murder, 
and  he  was  rescued  by  the  marines.     A  number  of  the  crew 
were  put  in  irons,  on  suspicion,  but  nothing  transpired  to  prove 
who  were  concerned  in  the  affair.     His  own  brother  w^as  on 
board,  but  he  hated  him  as  much  as  any  man.     Had  he  not 
caught  under  the  hammock,  he  would  have  died  the  death  be- 
fitting such  a  man.    This  monster  was  allowed  to  carry  a  ''colt,'' 
and  use  it  upon  any  man  that  he  thought  proper ;  thus  giving 
him  the  same  power  that  the  law  vests  in  a  captain.     He  would 
flog  a  man  on  the  berth  deck,  and  then  report  him  to  the 
officer  of  the  deck,  who  would  flog  him  again.     I  w^as  witness 
to  one  instance  of  his  having  a  man  punished.     One  morning, 
when  the  hammocks  were  piped  up,  Ned  Edwards,  captain  of 
the  fore  top,  was  the  last  one  in  lashing  up  his,  and  the  master 
of  arms  hauled  out  his  colt  to  strike  him.     The  man  said, 
^'  Do  n't  strike  me,  master  at  arms ;  if  I  have  done  any  thing 
wrong,  report  me  to  the  officer  of  the  deck."     He  did  strike, 
however,  and  Edwards  knocked  him  down.     For  this  he  was 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  91 

put  in  irons,  and  sometime  afterwards  brought  before  the  cap- 
tain to  he  flogged  for  the  same  offence.  The  captain  asked 
him  how  he  came  to  do  the  deed.  The  man  stated  the  circum- 
stance, which  the  master  at  arms  did  not  deny  ;  but  he  was 
flogged,  arnd  received  eighteen  lashes,  while  the  first  offender 
went  unpunished.  This  is  only  one  instance,  but  I  could  quote 
hundreds.  This  notorious  character  was  the  brother  of  the 
O'Hare  who  was  hung  at  Baltimore,  many  years  ago,  for  rob- 
bing the  mail.  After  the  death  of  his  brother,  he  assumed  an- 
other name.  He  fell,  the  first  victim  to  the  cholera  morbus,  in 
1834,  on  board  the  receiving  ship  Hudson,  at  New  York — 
dying,  despised  and  hated  by  all  who  knew  him,  without  one 
friend  to  console  him  in  his  last  moments,  or  close  his  eyes  in 
death.  Had  that  fell  disease  only  carried  off  such  as  he  was, 
it  would  have  been  a  blessing  instead  of  a  scourge. 

Previous  to  our  sailing  from  New  York,  D.  Lloyd  came  on 
board  as  a  master's  mate,  and  Isaac  Hadsor,  as  gunner.  The 
latter  w^as^  appointed  to  this  ofiice  by  Commodore  Chauncey, 
the  commandant  of  the  navy  yard,  and  both  these  persons  wore 
the  uniform  belonging  to  their  respective  ranks.  The  former 
was  one  of  the  best  practical  navigators  that  we  ever  had  in  the 
navy,  and  is  now  in  the  service  of  Texas,  as  a  master.  He 
incurred  the  displeasure  of  the  commander,  for  some  offence, 
and  for  which,  w^ithout  any  form  of  trial,  he  was  disrated  from 
bis  rank,  and  compelled  to  serve  as  a  common  seaman,  in  the 
fore  top,  in  direct  contradiction  to  the  law.  If  he  was  guilty 
of  any  ofl:ence  he  ought  to  have  been  tried  and  punished,  but 
that  punishmiCnt  could  not  extend  further  than  to  his  dismissal. 
He  came  on  board  as  an  officer,  and  messed  with  the  midship- 
men. He  had  never  signed  any  articles  of  agreement  by  which 
he  was  bound  to  serve  in  another  capacity.  He  applied  for  his 
discharge,  but  it  was  denied  him,  on  the  grounds  that  his  name 
being  on  the  books  was  a  sufficient  warrant  to  detain  him.  But 
the  same  reasoning  could  be  applied  to  any  other  officer,  and 
the  same  unlawful  measures  put  in  force  against  him.  The 
gunner  was  also  disrated,  without  any  form  of  trial,  and  put  to 
serve  as  a  seaman,  on  the  forecastle,  although  the  time  for 
which  he  had  enlisted  had  long  expired.     The  carpenter  was 


92  ^  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

an  old  man,  but  his  age  did  not  protect  him  Irom  insult.  He 
was  often  told,  ''  You  are  a  worthless  old  rascal — 1  would  not 
give  your  mate  for  a  dozen  of  you  ;  you  are  not  worth  your 
salt,"  he.  The  man  was  so  annoyed,  that,  as  soon  as  he  saved 
money  enough  from  his  small  pay,  which  was  then  only  twenty 
dollars  per  month  and  two  rations,  he  returned  to  the  United 
States,  in  a  private  vessel.  At  the  end  of  nine  months,  I  joined 
the  Delaware,  with  the  late  Capt.,  then  Lieut.  Mix ;  and  the 
same  usage  still  continued  on  board  the  Fairfield. 
^  With  regard  to  the  dismissal  of  officers,  the  Department  set 
a  pretty  example,  when  Mr.  Dickerson  was  at  the  head  of  it. 
Some  secret  report  w^as  made  against  the  boatswain  and  car- 
penter of  the  St.  Louis,  and  orders  w^ere  sent  to  the  commander 
to  turn  them  both  on  shore ;  and  that  was  carried  out  in  the 
same  spirit  with  the  order,  for  they  were  compelled  to  leave 
the  ship  in  half  an  hour.  What  the  nature  of  their  offence  was 
they  knew  not,  and  had  no  chance  to  reply  to  it.  The  law 
respecting  courts  martial,  says,  that  an  officer  preferring  charges 
against  another,  shall  forward  such  charges  to  the  Department, 
giving  the  accused  a  copy ;  but  in  thi?  case  neither  was  done. 
They  -were  dismissed  without  a  reason  being  stated,  except 
that  such  w^as  the  will  and  pleasure  of  the  secretary  of  the 
navy.  The  President  may  have  a  right  to  dismiss  an  officer ; 
but  I  have  too  much  respect  for  General  Jackson,  to  suppose 
that  he  would  have  done  so,  had  he  known  the  state  of  the 
case.  How  much  more  honorable  it  would  have  been  to  have 
given  those  men  a  trial,  and  allowed  them  the  privilege  of  de- 
fending their  character  from  calumny  and  misrepresentation ;  and 
driving  them  out  of  the  ship,  in  half  an  hour,  was  a  meanness 
for  which  there  can  be  no  excuse.  Both  of  the  men  were 
warrant  officers. 

There  has  been  a  change  made  under  the  sanction  of  the  pre- 
sent secretary  of  the  navy,  which  I  record  the  more  willingly  as  I 
am  convinced  that  Mr.  Paulding  permitted  the  traffic,  without 
reflecting  on  the  consequences,  or  considering  that  he  was 
wronging  a  deserving  officer. 

The  boatswain  of  one  of  our  navy  yards  (not  a  hundred 
i^Jles  from  Charlestown)  died,  or  rather  came  by  an  untimely 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  93 

death,  and  his  situation  as  a  matter  of  course  became  vacated. 
A  short  time  afterwards  an  appointment  with  orders  to  the  navy 
yard  was  sent  by  the  department  to  the  foreman  of  the  late 
boatswain,  who  was  a  worthy  deserving  man,  but  he  dechned 
accepting  either ;  as  he  knew  that  so  doing  would  render  him 
liable  to  be  sent  to  sea  at  any  moment,  and  preferred  what  he 
earned  by  his  daily  labor,  in  the  bosom  of  his  family  and 
friends,  to  the  trappings  of  office  and  absence  from  them  for 
three  years  at  a  time.  There  was  an  old  boatswain  on  the  sta- 
tion who  had  served  long  and  faithfully,  and  had  received  an 
injury  while  in  active  service  which  rendered  him  unfit  for 
duty  on  board  of  a  sea-going  vessel,  but  that  did  not  incapaci- 
tate him  from  performing  his  duty  in  a  navy  yard,  and  which 
he  naturally  looked  forward  to  as  the  reward  of  his  long  ser- 
vices, and  applied  for  the  vacant  situation.  He  did  not  re- 
ceive it.  It  happened  that  there  was  an  old  warranted  gunner 
on  the  station,  who  had  formerly  been  gunner  of  the  yard, 
but  was  removed  on  the  arrival  of  the  Potomac  from  a  cruise 
round  the  world,  as  he  had  been  longer  than  his  usual  time  in 
the  yard,  to  make  room  for  another  who  had  been  in  active 
sea  service  ever  since  the  war,  and  who  more  than  any  other 
of  his  grade  was  entitled  to  a  navy  yard.  This  other  gunner 
has  several  times  tried  to  get  into  the  yard  again,  but  he  has 
been  unsuccessful.  On  the  death  of  the  boatswain  he  offered 
to  resign  his  gunner's  warrant  for  a  boatswain's  appointment 
and  orders  to  the  navy  yard,  and  strancrn  to  say,  hla  ofFer  was 
accepted,  and  lie  has  now  got  the  yard.  If  this  man  has  paid 
the  attention  that  he  ought  to  his  duty  as  a  gunner  he  cannot 
be  fit  for  a  boatswain,  although  he  may  be  a  good  seaman,  any 
more  than  a  salesman  in  a  dry  goods  store  would  be  fit  for  the 
same  situation  in  a  grocery.  Making  such  an  offer  must  entitle 
him  to  the  scorn  and  detestation  of  his  brother  officers.  Upon 
the  same  principle  he  may,  should  the  gunner's  situation  in  the 
yard  become  vacant,  apply  for  his  warrant  again,  and  shift  back 
to  the  manifest  injury  of  others.  If  he  had  no  more  regard  for 
his  warrant  than  to  be  ready  to  barter  it  for  an  appointment,  he 
is  not  deserving  of  either ;  for  it  is  apparent  to  all  that  he  is 
only  making  a  tool  of  the  service  to  serve  his  own  ends,  with- 


94  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

out  having  the  least  esprit  du  corps.  It  is  not  his  meanness  and 
consummate  impudence  that  so  much  entitles  him  to  scorn  and 
detestation,  as  his  want  of  principle  and  sense  of  justice,  for  he 
knew  that  he  had  not  the  most  remote  claim  on  the  vacant 
situation  ;  and  if  he  got  it,  he  knew  that  he  had  done  so  at  the 
expense  of  a  brother  officer  who  had  just  claims,  and  that  he 
was  gouging  him  and  taking  the  very  bread  from  his  mouth. 
A  man  who  can  do  an  act  of  this  sort  is  unworthy  of  a  place  on 
the  rolls  of  the  navy,  "  where  every  principle  tending  to  honor 
is  taught,  if  followed."  That  the  boatswain  who  was  set  aside 
for  this  ci  devant  gunner  is  capable  of  611ing  the  situation,  is 
proved  by  the  length  of  time  that  he  has  held  his  appointment, 
and  there  is  nothing  against  his  moral  character.  If  Mr.  Paul- 
ding has  that  sense  of  justice,  and  is  disposed  to  do  justice  to 
those  over  whom  he  holds  the  reins  of  authority  without  refer- 
ence to  rank  and  favoritism,  and  for  such  an  intention  I  am 
willing  to  give  him  credit,  he  must  look  upon  this  in  the  same 
light  that  all  others  do,  viz.  as  an  act  of  rank  injustice.  He  may 
reconsider  it  and  set  all  right  again  by  making  each  of  the  par- 
ties resume  their  proper  place.  If  this  gunner  is  anxious  for 
active  service,  let  him  go  to  sea,  or  wait  patiently  upon  his 
leave  of  absence  pay  until  a  chance  turns  up  for  him  in  the 
course  of  service,  as  many  better  men  have  to  do.  But  he  has 
shown  to  what  acts  of  meanness  men  will  sometimes  bend,  and 
fixed  a  blot  upon   his  charar.ter  that  will  not  easily  be  erased 

or  forgotten. 

In  justice  to  myself  and  the  parties  alluded  to,  I  must  state 
that  I  do  not  know  the  gunner,  am  only  slightly  acquainted 
with  the  boatswain,  and  that  I  have  not  seen  nor  received  any 
letter  or  message  from  the  latter,  either  directly  or  indirectly, 
and  that  in  exposing  the  afiair  I  am  actuated  by  a  sense  of  jus- 
tice alone. 

For  some  time  past  Commodore  Chauncey  has  acted  as  sec- 
retary of  the  navy,  and  by  him  the  officers  were  ordered  to  the 
'U.  S.  frigate  United  States  and  sloop-of-war  Marion.  The 
carpenters  of  Portsmouth  and  Charlestown  yards  have  both  been 
ordered  to  them  ;  the  former  to  the  Marion,  where  his  pay  is 
five  hundred  dollars,  and  the  latter  to  the  United  States,  at  six 


Naval  and  MfiRciiANi'  service.  95 

hundred  dollars  per  annum*  The  former  is  senior  to  the  lat- 
ter by  the  date  of  his  warrant,  and  served  on  board  the  Vanda- 
lia  on  the  West  India  station  for  nearly  four  years,  and  was  the 
only  officer  who  remained  in  that  ship  the  whole  cruise.  She 
had  several  captains  and  sets  of  other  officers  who  soon  became 
invalids  from  the  unhealthiness  of  the  climate.  Now  this  offi- 
cer is  ordered  to  a  sloop-of-war  again,  while  another  who  has 
not  seen  so  much  service  is  ordered  to  a  frigate.  In  point  of 
quahfications  and  moral  character  neither  can  claim  precedence 
over  the  other,  as  both  of  the  gentlemen  are  an  ornament  to 
their  grade,  therefore  justice  ought  to  have  been  done  in  regard 
to  the  class  of  the  vessel  to  which  they  were  ordered. 

Commodore  Chauncey  cannot  plead  ignorance  as  an  excuse, 
for  he  surely  knows  enough  of  the  service  to  suppose  that  the 
injured  party  must  have  felt  aggrieved  at  the  slight  thrown 
upon  him.  How  would  the  commodore  like  being  ordered  to  a 
sloop-of-war  while  a  junior  had  command  of  a  frigate  on  the 
same  station.  He  would  swell  up  like  the  frog  in  the  fable, 
and  threaten  the  navy  with  destruction  by  resigning.  The  anti 
administration  papers  would  take  up  his  cause,  and  terrible 
would  be  the  splash  of  ink.  The  Commodore's  gallant  ex- 
ploits would  be  rehearsed  and  his  arduous  services  (in  navy 
yards  and  at  the  navy  board  for  the  last  twenty  years)  would 
be  enumerated,  and  more  ink  spilled  in  his  defence  than  he 
ever  could  shed  of  enemy's  blood.  Crocodile  tears  would  be 
shed  by  the  bucket  full ;  aye,  as  plentiful  and  fully  sincere  as 
those  that  watered  the  grave  of  a  late  member  of  Congress, 
who  fell  in  a  duel. 

Ah,  Commodore,  hard  have  you  tried  to  get  an  admiral's 
flag,  and  you  deserve  it,  but  never  will  it  fly  at  your  main-mast 
head,  so  long  as  you  show  a  disposition  to  trample  upon  inferi- 
ors. You  must  have  forgotten  the  principle  features  in  the 
declaration  of  independence  and  constitution  of  our  country  : 
"  All  men  are  born  equal."  But  you  would  prevent  the  toe  of  ^-^ 
the  plebeian  from  grazing  the  kibe  of  the  patrician.  Haply  how- 
ever, the  members  of  our  national  legislature  are  not  so  aristo- 
cratic in  their  notions  as  you  are.  Your  commission  may  allow 
you  to  trample  on  your  inferiors  in  rank,  but  you  cannot  sway 


96  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

the  councils  of  the  nation.  To  do  to  others  as  you  would  be 
done  by,  is  a  good  precept,  but  you  often  deviate  from  it. 
You  have  now  arrived  at  a  time  of  life  when  it  is  natural  to  sup- 
pose that  you  would  issue  the  edicts  of  your  office  as  much  in 
accordance  vt^ith  justice  as  possible.  But  no,  you  still  give 
proof  of  that  despotic  disposition  which  formerly  was  your  fail- 
ing. I  once  loved  and  esteemed  you,  but  both  must  cease 
when  I  see  you  do  that  to  a  warrant  officer  that  you  dare  not 
do  to  a  commissioned  one.  You  ought  to  bear  in  mind  too, 
that  forward  officers  are  not  now  what  they  were  when  you  com- 
manded a  vessel.  "  A  change  has  come  o'er  the  spirit  of  their 
dream  ;"  they  are  now  gentlemen  with  ties  of  kindred,  home  and 
friends  to  bind  them  to  their  country,  and  have  a  lively  sense 
of  injustice,  and  cannot  be  curbed  and  brow-beat  like  the  fire- 
eaters  of  your  day,  who  budded  in  the  sunshine  of  your  favor 
or  withered  under  the  ungenial  shade  of  your  frown  and  dis- 
pleasure. Your  days  are  now  drawing  to  a  close,  and  'twere 
well  to  spend  the  few  remaining,  in  endeavoring  to  better  the 
condition  of  a  class  of  men  too  long  neglected-  You  have  in- 
fluence, use  it  in  their  behalf,  and  let  their  tears  and  prayers 
follow  you  to  your  grave.  You  ought  by  this  time  to  cast 
aside  ambition  (and  leave  it  to  your  gallant  sons  who  are  fol- 
lowing the  path  of  glory  and  are  an  honor  to  any  father,)  and 
do  something  for  common  sailors  whom  you  have  heretofore 
neglected.  Do  so,  and  when  you  are  taken  from  amongst  us, 
they  will  drop  a  sympathetic  tear  on  the  sod  consecrated  to 
your  remains. 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  97 


CHAPTER    XI. 

Flogging  on  board  the  Fairfield,  seen  from  the  Delaware's  tops,  and 
the  cause — purser  and  first  lieutenant  at  loggerheads— subsequent  con* 
duct  of  the  first  lieutenant— crew  allowed  to  draw  articles  from  the 
]jurser  without  limitation— bright  work— the  U.  S.  ship  Lexington, 

Capt.  D n — instances  of  unjust  punishment — Wm.  Mclntire — his 

death— l.t.  St gs — his  ignorance — Captain  D n  instructs  him 

how  to  take  in  sail — liberty  given  the  crew  for  ninety -nine  years — 
Captain  McKeever  takes  the  ship--his  kindness. 

One  morning,  after  I  had  joined  the  Delaware,  we  were 
aloft  squaring  yards,  when  we  observed  an  unusual  deal  of  pun- 
ishment inflicted  on  board  the  Fairfield,  that  lay  close  to'^us. 
She  being  a  small  vessel,  we  could  look  down  from  our  tops 
upon  her  decks.  Two  boatswain's  mates,  under  the  direction 
of  the  first  lieutenant,  were  employed  for  upwards  of  half  an 
hour  flogging  men.  When  one  of  her  boats  came  alongside 
of  us  we  ascertained  the  cause.  It  appeared  that  all  men 
who  had  put  down  upon  the  mess  bills  for  more  than  one 
jack  knife,  or  pound  of  tobacco,  or  for  a  case  of  razors,  were 
flogged  for  so  doing.  The  mess  bills  are  printed  and  issued 
monthly,  with  the  articles  in  columns,  which  the  purser  has 
for  sale,  such  as  needles,  tape,  tea  and  sugar,  knives,  tobacco, 
&;c.,  and  every  man  is  expected  to  put  down  on  them  for  what 
he  pleases,  then  they  are  sent  to  the  first  lieutenant,  and  by 
him  to  the  captain,  for  approval,  before  the  articles  are  issued. 
They  are  merely  requisitions,  which  the  captain  may  approve 
of  or  not,  as  he  thinks  fit,  and  if  he  sees  any  man  has  put 
down  for  more  things  than  he  thinks  he  actually  requires  for 
his  own  use,  he  may  cross  it  out  or  alter  it  to  what  he  thinks 
proper.  In  the  name  of  justice  what  were  these  bills  given  to 
the  men  for  if  they  were  to  be  punished  for  putting  down  for 
articles  on  them  ?  It  was  the  most  tyrannical  act  I  ever  knew 
committed  in  the  navy.  Upwards  of  six  hundred  lashes  were 
inflicted  on  men  that  morning,  and  can  only  be  explained  by- 
informing  the  public  that  the  first  lieutenant  and  the  purser 
9 


9d  EVILS   AND   ABUSES    IN   THE 

were  on  bad  terms,  and  the  former  could  find  no  other  way  to 
show  his  spleen,  or  to  annoy  the  latter,  than  by  flogging  the 
men  for  buying  his  goods.  It  was  not  done  with  any  view  to 
save  the  men  their  wages,  but  to  the  contrary.  The  purser 
left  the  ship  and  another  purser  joined  her,  yet  when  the  ship 
went  into  Marseilles  some  time  afterwards,  the  same  first 
lieutenant  allowed  the  purser's  store-room  to  be  opened  for  a 
week,  and  the  men  were  permitted  to  purchase  what  they  chose, 
to  sell  it  again  ;  and  so  well  did  they  avail  themselves  of  the  in- 
dulgence that  many  of  them  returned  to  the  United  States, 
after  being  absent  two  years  and  nine  months,  without  having 
a  dollar  due  them.  In  addition  to  the  severe  punishments  in- 
flicted, the  most  harrassing  and  unnecessary  work  was  done  on 
board  that  ship  ;  every  handspike,  crow-bar,  and  belay ing-pin 
was  scoured  bright ;  the  iron  straps  of  snatch  blocks,  iron  trav- 
ellers round  the  masts,  linchpins  of  the  guns,  ringbolts  in  the 
deck,  trainbolts  in  the  gun  carriages,  iron  rail  round  the  fore- 
castle, and  the  iron  straps  of  the  cat  blocks  were  all  kept  as 
bright  as  silver;  and  many  hundreds  of  floggings  did  keeping 
these  bright  occasion ;  which  was  entirely  out  of  ord(?r,  and  as 
such  was  laughed  at  by  the  rest  of  the  officers  on  the  station. 
In  1834,  an  officer  told  me  that  *' he  had  had  a  comi'iirnent 
paid  him  on  the  Fairfield."  He  said,  ''  Commodore  Oovvnes," 
who  was  then  in  New  York,  after  returning  in  the  Potomao 
from  her  cruise  round  the  world,  '*  said  that  the  Fairfield  was 
the  neatest  ship  he  had  ever  seen  in  his  life,  and  that  he  had 
only  one  fault  to  find,  that  was,  that  there  was  too  much  bright 
work  on  board  of  her."  Had  the  gallant  Commodore  known 
all,  he  would  have  had  more  to  condemn  than  bright  work. 
She  was  what  is  termed  a  strict  ship,  by  disciplinarians,  "  God 
save  the  mark,"  and  keep  every  seaman  from  such  a  vessel. 
She  was  a  hell  afloat,  a  perfect  floating  home  of  cruelty, 
tyranny,  and  oppression.  It  cannot  well  be  imagined,  the  in- 
jury that  is  done  to  a  young  officer  by  serving  on  board  of  such 
a  ship  as  the  Fairfield;  they  come  on  board  with  their  sympa- 
thies and  feelings  warm  from  the  paternal  hearth,  and  have 
them  so  chilled  and  warped  by  being  thrust  into  such  a  den  of 
cruelty  and  oppression,  that  it  will  aflfect  them  for  the  rest  of 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERYICE..  99 

their  lives.  They  are  young,  and  enter  upon  a  profession  of 
which  they  have  not  the  most  distant  idea,  and  the  impressions 
that  are  first  made  upon  them  will  be  the  most  lasting ;  what 
they  first  see  they  will  suppose  to  be  right,  and  thereby  may 
remain  in  error  for  the  rest  of  their  lives.  If  they  are  predis- 
posed to  tyrannise,  it  becomes  rooted,  for  they  have  an  ample 
opportunity  to  indulge  in  it,  and  their  word  or  report  at  any 
time  will  cause  the  lash  to  be  inflicted.  I  would  not  willingly 
say  anything  against  the  captain  who  commanded  the  ship,  for 
I  have  seen  him  since  in  a  navy  yard,  where  he  appeared  to 
treat  every  one  with  kindness  ;  but  there  is  no  excuse,  with 
regard  to  his  not  knowing  that  these  things  occurred  on  board 
of  his  ship,  for  men  were  repeatedly  punished  while  he  was 
walking  the  deck,  without  his  interfering  or  saying  that  it  was 
wrong  ;  and  when  the  most  severe  punishments  took  place  he 
could  hear  the  sound  of  every  lash,  sitting  in  his  cabin,  inde- 
pendent of  the  cries  of  the  victims  from  pain,  or  their  suppli- 
cations for  mercy,  so  that  nothing  could  have  been  expected 
from  him  in  the  way  of  redress.  All  reports  had  to  go  to  hira 
through  the  first  lieutenant,  to  whom  no  man,  who  had  any  re- 
gard for  his  back,  would  have  made  a  report  against  any  officer. 
Some  notice  was  taken  of  the  abuse  of  power  in  that  ship, 
by  the  newspapers,  after  she  arrived  ;  and  the  Globe,  the  re- 
cognised organ  of  the  administration,  stated  that  it  could  scarcely 
be  the  case,  as  all  reports  made  to  the  department  of  his  nature 
were  attended  to,  and  investigated ;  but  where  officers  have 
been  unable  to  procure  redress,  another  fate  for  complaints 
from  seamen  could  barely  be  expected.  That  the  officers  of 
the  Fairfield  were  to  blame  for  their  treatment  of  the  crew  will 
not  admit  of  a  doubt;  but  the  greatest  portion  of  that  blame 
rests  with  the  Captain,  for  in  him  the  power  is  vested  to  cor- 
rect all  such  as  are  guilty  of  offences  against  the  law,  whether 
officer  or  private,  and  had  he  given  an  order  that  no  officer 
should  punish  a  private,  he  would  not  have  dared  to  have 
done  it  in  opposition  to  the  orders  of  his  commander,  from  fear 
of  being  court  martialed.  I  am  well  satisfied  that  the  captain 
of  that  ship  has  often  regretted  his  neglect  in  not  preventing 
the  cruelty   that  was  so  common  under  his  command,  and 


100  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

as  his  next  ship  will  be  a  frigate,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  he  will 
make  atonement  for  the  past. 

I  was  on  board  the  Lexington,  on  the  coast  of  Brazil,  from 
1831  to  1834,  and  during  the  first  part  of  her  cruise  several 
very  severe  and  unjust  punishments  took  place.  The  captain 
was  a  kind  man,  but  often  very  passionate,  and  when  so,  very 
unjust.  He  allowed  no  punishment  on  board  but  what  he  in- 
flicted himself;  but  he  sometimes  went  far  beyond  the  law  in 
punishing  petty  offences.  When  w^e  were  at  the  Falkland 
Islands,  the  men  were  put  on  allow^ance,  in  consequence  of  the 
provisions  on  board  being  likely  to  run  short.  Having  gone 
from  a  warm  climate  to  a  cold  one,  their  appetites  increased 
and  made  the  allowance  too  little,  and  this  created  a  ferment 
among  the  crew.  One  day  they  had  been  called  aft,  and  a 
vehement  lecture  read  them  by  the  captain ;  they  were  sent 
forward,  and  the  yeoman  made  some  remark,  which  was  over- 
heard by  Lieutenant  J.  S gs,  who  immediately  reported  it 

to  the  captain.  All  hands  were  instantly  called  to  witness 
punishment.  The  marines  were  turned  out  with  fixed  bayonets, 
and  the  captain  brought  a  pair  of  ship's  pistols  from  the  cabin, 
loaded  with  ball  cartridges,  which  he  laid  upon  the  capstan  ; 
the  man  was  then  ordered  to  strip,  which  he  did  without  a 
murmur,  as  he  knew  that  to  attempt  to  appease  the  captain 
would  be  like  trymg  to  stop  the  sea  from  raging.  He  was 
seized  up,  and  received  twenty-four  lashes,  without  a  stop. 
The  weather  was  extremely  cold,  being  in  so  high  a  latitude, 
but  the  man  bore  his  punishment  in  silence  ;  his  lips  writhed, 
but  no  complaint  escaped  him.  He  w^as  taken  down  and 
warned  not  to  grumble  about  provisions  again,  under  penalty  of 
receiving  twice  the  number  of  lashes.  He  spoke  not,  but  those 
who  looked  upon  his  calmness,  knew  that  it  was  the  calmness 
of  resolution.  Had  Capt.  D.  lived  until  that  man  returned  to 
the  United  States,  it  would  have  been  bad  for  both  of  them. 
This  punishment  was  inflicted  directly  contrary  to  law,  for  it 
declares  that  a  captain  shall  only  punish  a  private,  and  this 
man  was  a  petty  ofiicer ;  he  shall  not  punish  beyond  twelve 
lashes,  and  yet  he  inflicted  twenty-four. 

About  the  same  time  a  more  severe  punishment  took  place* 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  101 

Win.  Mclntire,  a  tailor,  who  was  employed  by  the  captain  in 
his  cabin,  had  persuaded  one  of  the  cabin  boys  to  ^ive  him 
some  of  the  captain's  brandy,  whic^h  t-^e  steward  miss%d,  and 
reported.  The  man  was  not  drunk,* But  he  had  ^rank  the 
brandy,  and  for  so  doing  was  brought  to  the  gangway  fci-d  pun- 
ished with  three  dozen  lashes  upon  tile  ^hdte  back.*  '  It  was  his 
first  and  last  flogging  ;  he  did  not  long  survive  it ;  it  sank  deep 
into  his  heart,  and  he  nevermore  held  up  his  head.  He  sleeps 
the  sleep  of  death,  on  the  bleak,  barren  Falkland  Islands,  far 
from  his  hom.e  and  friends.  I  dare  the  medical  men  that  were 
on  board  that  ship  to  say  that  he  did  not  die  in  consequence  of 
the  flogging  he  received,  and  the  victim  of  cruelty  and  oppres- 
sion. 

In  Rio  de  Janeiro,  some  time  afterwards,  a  number  of  men 
had  been  confined  in  irons,  and  were  brought  to  the  gangway 
to  be  punished  ;  one  of  them,  Collin  Lament,  said,  loud  enough 
to  be  heard  by  the  captain,  when  he  was  ordered  to  take  off 
his  shirt,  '^  if  you  go  on  this  w^ay  you  will  soon  make  a  ship 
of  her."  The  captain's  passion  so  overcame  him  that  he  did 
not  wait  to  draw  his  sword,  but  beat  the  man  about  the  head 
and  face  with  it  in  the  scabbard,  for  some  time ;  and  when  his 
strength  failed,  he  ordered  him  to  be  seized  to  the  gratings, 
and  inflicted  thirty-eight  lashes  upon  his  bare  back,  and  would 
have  gone  further,  but  the  surgeon  interfered,  and  declared  the 
man  to  be  unable  to  bear  any  more  at  that  time.  He  was 
taken  from  the  gratings,  more  dead  than  alive,  and  put  into 
double  irons,  in  order  to  prepare  him  for  a  second  part  of  the 
punishment  intended  for  him ;  but  the  passion  which  overruled 
the  captain  when  he  first  punished  him  gave  way  to  reason, 
and  he  ordered  him  to  be  released. 

Such  were  some  of  the  proceedings  on  board  that  ship.  It 
may  naturally  be  supposed  that  it  showed  a  littleness  in  the 
lieutenant,  who  had  the  man  punished  at  the  Falkland  Islands, 
to  work  upon  the  irritable  feelings  of  his  commander,  when 
he  knew  him.  to  be  so  liable  to  go  to  extremes  when  under  the 
influence  of  passion,  but  he  had  no  other  way  that  he  could 
show  his  zeal,  or  gain  his  commander's  affections.  He  was 
utterly  incapable  as  an  officer,  and  could  not  give  the  orders 
9^ 


102  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

properly  to  take  in  the  light  sails.  So  notorious  was  the  fact 
that  the  whole  crew  frequently  openly  laughed  at  his  ignorance, 
which  .kidi^ced  the 'captain  to  say,  in  the  general  order  book  of 
the  ship,  that  the 'proper  r>rder  to  be  given  on  an  occasion  allu- 
ded to,>  was  to- say,  ^^^  In  royak  and  topgallant  studding  sails, 
down  fiyin<g  jib."  '  Th^e .smallest  midshipman  in  the  ship  knew 

this  ;  but  Lt.  S gs  did  not.     As  a  scholar  or  mathameti- 

cian  he  is  far  below  mediocrity  ;  he  may  do  well  enough  where 
he  is  now,  on  board  of  a  steamship,  but  he  ought  never  to  be 
entrusted  with  the  charge  of  the  deck  on  board  of  any  other 
vessel.  Poor  creature,  he  would  look  upon  men  with  sovereign 
contempt,  when  he  was  on  board  the  Lexington,  who  were 
his  superiors  in  every  point  except  in  rank  ;  but  I  will  not  ex- 
pose him  further,  as  my  object  is  general  good,  not  personal 
injury. 

The  captain  of  the  Lexington,  when  he  was  not  angry,  was 
a  kind-hearted  man,  and  would  extend  every  indulgence  to  his 
crew.  If  a  man  carried  him  a  requisition  on  the  purser  for 
money  he  would  always  sign  it,  and  never  would  deny  a  man 
liberty  to  go  on  shore  if  he  applied  to  him  when  he  was  in 
good  humor.  Before  the  ship  sailed  from  Norfolk,  he  allowed 
ten  or  fifteen  men  to  go  on  shore  every  night,  and  although 
they  had  been  newly  shipped,  and  were  in  debt  to  the  govern- 
ment, only  one  deserted  out  of  the  whole  crew.  He  went 
upon  the  plan  that  a  man  who  would  desert  was  not  worth 
retaining,  and  carried  this  to  an  extreme  extent  on  the  coast  of 
Brazil.  He  said  that  he  could  not  discharge  the  men  in  a  for- 
eign port,  but  he  would  give  them  liberty  for  ninety-nine  years. 
He  could  not  pay  them  their  wages,  but  he  would  let  them  buy 
clothing  from  the  purser  to  the  amount  of  what  was  due  them. 
Under  this  plan  many  of  the  most  valuable  men  left  the  ship, 
and  foreign  musicians  to  the  number  of  twenty-five  were  ship- 
ped in  their  place.  Those  that  left  the  ship  in  this  manner 
were  marked  upon  the  muster  roll  as  deserters,  while  in 
fact  they  were  not,  which  was  a  fraud  practiced  to  blind  the 
navy  department  to  the  true  state  of  things.  Captain  D.  was  a 
strictly  temperate  man,  very  rarely  even  drank  wine,  but  he 
would  not  punish  a  man  for  drunkenness  who  had  not  been 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  103 

guilty  of  any  other  offence ;  and  if  a  man  took  French  liberty, 
that  is,  went  on  shore  without  permission,  if  he  returned  of  his 
own  accord,  he  would  not  be  flogged.  Those  that  stopped 
their  ration  of  spirits  he  directed  the  purser  to  pay  them  for  it 
every  month,  or  when  the  ship  arrived  in  port,  which  was  an 
excellent  plan,  and  ought  to  be  adopted  in  all  our  vessels  of 
war,  in  order  to  discountenance  the  use  of  ardent  spirits  until 
some  law  is  made  upon  the  subject.  Captain  D.  was  too 
severe  in  some  cases,  and  too  lenient  in  otliers,  and  the  ship 
became  a  perfect  bedlam  ;  but  fortunately  he  w^as  relieved 
by  an  officer  the  very  reverse.  Captain  McKeever,  and  Lieu- 
tenant Joseph  Myers  came  out  to  join  the  ship,  after  we  had 
been  upwards  of  a  year  upon  the  station ;  the  former  as  com- 
mander, and  the  latter  as  first  lieutenant,  and  a  change  soon  took 
place,  so  that  there  was  less  punishment,  better  discipline, 
and  more  real  happiness  on  board  of  her,  than  in  any  vessel 
in  which  I  have  ever  served.  Were  all  commanders  like  Cap- 
tain McKeever  the  navy  w^ould  never  want  seamen.  I  do  not 
think  that  there  was  ever  a  man  that  sailed  with  him  who 
would  not  be  happy  to  do  so  again.  The  officer  and  gentle- 
man were  apparent  in  all  that  he  did.  He  did  not  consider  it 
any  disgrace  to  bring  liberty  men  off  with  him  in  his  gig,  when 
they  were  drunk  and  likely  to  be  hurt  by  remaining  on  shore. 
This,  and  a  thousand  other  acts  of  kindness  soon  endeared  him 
to  his  men,  who  would  have  followed  him,  from  love  and 
choice,  to  the  cannon's  mouth.  It  affords  me  pleasure  to  do 
him  a  small  portion  of  the  justice  that  he  deserves,  for  his 
humanity  and  kindness  to  the  men  whom  he  was  appointed  to 
command.  The  day  that  he  joined  the  ship  all  hands  were 
called  to  muster;  he  addressed  the  crew  for  some  time,  and 
then  said,  ''  Drunkenness  is  the  bane  of  every  naval  service, 
and  is  the  cause  of  much  otherwise  unnecessary  punishment ; 
were  it  not  for  this  cause  seamen  would  be  taken  into  the 
bosom  of  society  and  receive  the  same  attention  there  that 
others  do ;  but  until  they  have  laid  aside  that  vice  they  must 
be  content  to  remain  beyond  the  line  that  virtuous  people  have 
drawn  to  prevent  the  approach  of  evil.  Drunkenness  is  a 
crime,  (he  continued)  which  I  never  will  forgive,  except  where 


104  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

a  man  may  have  been  on  liberty.  The  government  has  vested 
me  with  power  to  punish  and  forgive  ;  but  lenity  never  will 
be  extended  to  those,  who  in  open  violation  of  the  laws  en- 
acted for  their  good,  wilfully  commit  this  offence.  In  other 
cases  I  shall  be  governed  by  the  feelings  of  regard  which  I 
must  ever  entertain  for  those  whom  I  command,  and  to  whom 
I  will  allow  all  the  privileges  and  liberty  that  the  laws  of  the 
service  or  the  nature  of  the  case  will  admit  of.  There  is  no 
sentinel  at  my  cabin  door,  and  those  who  have  any  complaints 
to  make,  or  redress  to  seek,  may  come  to  me ;  1  am  always 
ready  to  listen  to  the  one  and  redress  the  other ;  and  any  man 
who  makes  a  complaint  from  ignorance,  I  shall  endeavor  to 
convince,  but  never  punish.  If  any  one  imagines  that  I  have 
done  wrong  I  am  ready  to  listen  to,  and  will  try  to  show  him 
that  I  have  done  right.  All  the  by-laws  and  general  orders 
of  my  predecessor  will  remain  in  force,  and  when  it  becomes 
necessary  to  alter  any  of  them  it  shall  be  communicated  to 
you  through  the  first  lieutenant.  Pipe  down  sir."  This 
address,  for  the  above  is  the  substance  of  it,  had  a  good  effect 
upon  the  men,  who  swore  at  once  that  they  loved  him,  and 
that  love  increased  as  they  became  better  acquainted  with  his 
many  virtues  and  amiable  qualities.  Punishment  was  a  rare 
occurrence  afterwards  ;  months  would  pass  by  without  a  man 
being  on  the  report.  A  commodore  came  out,  some  time 
after  Captain  McKeever  joined  the  ship,  to  take  command  of 
the  squadron,  and  made  the  Lexington  his  flag  ship ;  he  lived 
on  board  of  her,  but  left  the  entire  command  of  the  ship  to  the 
captain.  He  said,  one  day  in  my  hearing,  that  he  would 
always,  when  in  command  of  a  ship,  take  the  master-at-arms' 
report  and  punish  all  upon  it,  urging  as  a  reason,  that  unless  a 
man  deserved  punishment  he  would  not  be  confined  by  the 
officer  of  the  deck.  Captain  McKeever  replied,  "  I  will  differ 
with  you,  sir ;  I  am  judge  of  the  conduct  of  officers  as  well  as 
men,  both  are  liable  to  err,  and  I  shall  always  punish  the  one 
as  quick  as  I  would  the  other."  Tliis  practice  of  punishing 
from  the  report  was  but  too  common  in  the  navy  among  those 
old  fellows  who  had  crept  into  the  cabin  windows,  but  it  is 
daily  becoming  less  so.     Where  officers  of  the  deck  are  not 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  105 

allowed  to  punish  men,  they  have  the  power  to  order  them  to 
be  confined  in  irons,  and  tell  the  master-at-arms  what  offence 
they  were  guilty  of.  He  then  makes  out  a  report,  stating 
the  man's  name,  when  he  was  confined,  how,  and  by  whom 
confined,  and  his  offence  ;  this  report  goes  to  the  captain 
daily,  and  fi'om  it  many  have  been  in  the  habit  of  punishing 
without  hearing  one  word  from  the  accused  in  mitigation  of  the 
offence,  and  without  being  permitted  to  call  any  witness  to 
prove  that  he  was  not  guilty.  Indeed,  I  have  seen  a  captain 
come  out  of  his  cabin,  order  a  man  to  strip  and  be  flogged, 
when  the  man  could  have  proved  that  he  was  not  the  guilty 
person  ;  but  the  captain  would  order  him  to  keep  silence, 
under  penalty  of  receiving  a  double  punishment.  When  young 
officers  are  on  board  of  a  ship  with  such  a  captain  they  often 
give  way  to  animosity  or  hatred,  and  have  the  objects  of  them 
punished  ;  in  proof  of  which,  I  will  relate  an  occurrence  of  this 
nature  that  I  was  informed  took  place  on  board  the  frigate 
Potomac,  when  under  the  command  of  Commodore  Downes. 
A  man  had  been  confined  in  irons  for  being  insolent  to  an  offi- 
cer, and  was  brought  up  before  the  commodore  for  punishment. 
The  commodore  asked  the  officer  if  the  man  had  been  very 
insolent  to  him,  and  he  replied  in  the  affirmative;  "what  did 
you  say  to  the  officer,  my  man  ?"  continued  the  commodore, 
addressing  the  accused.  "  1  told  him  sir,"  said  the  man,  putting 
aside  his  grey  hair,  for  he  was  old,  "  when  he  said  '  God  d — n 
you,  I'll  jump  down  your  throat,'  that  I  did  not  want  to  take  a 
puke."  "  A  very  proper  reply  to  such  a  remark,"  said  the 
commodore  ;  "  go  about  your  business."  If  Commodore 
Downes  did  not  afterwards  censure  the  officer,  he  did  enough 
to  show  him  that  he  disapproved  of  such  language. 

The  legislators  who  framed  the  rules  and  regulations  for  the 
navy,  altered  them  very  materially  from  the  English  laws  ;  they 
thought  that  if  British  seamen  could  stand  from  one  to  six 
hundred  lashes,  that  there  would  be  no  danger  in  vesting  a 
court  martial  with  power  to  inflict  one  hundred  lashes  on  a  sea- 
man, and  this  they  fixed  as  the  greatest  extent  of  their  power. 
And  they  supposed  that  punishments  in  such  cases  are  inflicted 
in  a  similar  manner  in  both  services,  although  ninety  in  a  hun- 


106  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

dred  of  our  naval  officers  of  the  present  day  think  that  the 
mode  and  instrument  of  punishment  are  the  same,  which  is 
not  the  case.  In  the  British  navy,  when  a  seaman  is  to  be 
punished,  pursuant  to  the  sentence  of  a  court  martial,  he  is 
stripped  and  a  kind  of  cushion  fixed  under  his  arms  and  round 
his  body  and  small  of  the  back,  which  exposes  only  his  shoul- 
ders to  the  lash ;  w^iereas  in  the  American  navy  the  culprit  is 
stripped  to  his  waist,  and  seized  up,  and  as  the  boatswain's 
mates  cannot  always  strike  in  one  place,  his  whole  back  is  cut 
with  the  lash,  including  under  his  arms  and  upon  the  ribs,  &lc., 
which  is  extremely  painful,  as  any  seaman  can  testify  who  has 
ever  been  flogged  ;  so  that  one  hundred  lashes  in  our  service, 
according  to  our  mode,  is  as  great  an  injury  to  the  constitution, 
and  produces  greater  pain  and  suffering  than  four  times-  the 
number  would,'  according  to  the  English  fashion.  On  this 
subject  none  of  our  naval  officers  have  ever  spoken,  which  is 
to  be  attributed  to  their  ignorance  of  the  fact,  rather  than  any 
wish  to  create  greater  suffering  than  the  law  allows  in  such 
extreme  cases  ;  but  when  the  navy  regulations  are  revised  it  is 

to  be  hoped  that  this  wnll  not  be  overlooked.     Captain  S r 

of  the  Warren  supported  charges  against  a  man,  in  1829,  and 
had  him  sentenced  to  receive  the  extreme  of  the  punishment 
allowed  by  the  law.  He  struck  an  officer  when  he  was  drunk 
on  shore,  and  that  officer  had  not  the  generosity  to  forgive  him 
for  the  offence.  The  man  went  through  the  squadron,  receiv- 
ing thirty-four  lashes  on  board  the  Delaware,  thirty -three  on 
board  the  Java,  and  thirty -three  on  board  the  Warren  ;  on  board 
the  Delaw^are  and  Warren  the  punishment  was  inflicted  as 
severely  as  if  he  had  to  receive  only  one  dozen,  but  on  board 
the  Java,  Captain  Downestold  the  boatswain's  mate  to  remem- 
ber that  the  man  had  to  go  through  the  fleet.  The  man  is 
long  since  in  his  grave,  and  the  officer  who  reported  him  was 
dismissed  because  he  could  not  pass  an  examination,  after 
receiving  seven  or  eight  year's  pay  in  the  navy.  The  cap- 
tain passes  for  a  religious  character,  but  I  wonder  if  his  con- 
duct on  board  the  Warren  showed  it.  The  boatswain  was  a 
stout  man,  and  the  captain  was  under  the  impression  that  ho 
eould  flog  harder  than  his  mates,  and  on  one  occasion  ordered 


NAVAL   AN1>   MERCHANT   SEHVldE.  10? 

him  to  take  the  cats ;  it  was  an  unusual  and  improper  order, 
but  he  knew  if  he  refused,  that  his  captain  would  bring  him  to 
a  court  martial  for  some  offence  or  other,  but  he  was  determined 
not  to  answer  his  expectations  by  being  made  the  tool  of  tyran- 
ny. The  firsi  lash  the  boatswain  gave  the  man,  the  captain 
ordered  him  to  lay  down  the  cats,  observing  that  it  would  take 
six  dozen  of  such  lashes  to  wake  a  man  up.  He  would  very 
often  ask  a  man  if  the  dozen  lashes  that  he  had  received 
was  as  good  as  a  glass  of  Castle  street  (in  Mahon)  bitters  to  him. 
He  despised  drinking,  and  like  many  others,  went  to  extremes 
in  preventing  it.  If  such  acts  as  he  was  guilty  of  on  board 
the  Warren,  are  precepts  inculcated  by  his  religion,  I  hope 
every  captain  in  the  American  navy  will  steer  clear  of  his 
church. 

Captain  Marryatt  says,  in  Midshipman  Easy,  "  We  have 
pointed  out  errors  which  have  existed,  and  still  do  exist,  in  a 
service  which  is  an  honor  to  its  country  ;  for  what  is  there  on 
earth  that  is  perfect,  or  into  which,  if  it  once  was  perfect, 
abuses  will  not  creep  ?  Unfortunately,  others  have  written  to 
decry  the  service,  and  many  have  raised  up  their  voices  against 
our  writings,  because  they  felt  that  in  exposing  error  we  were 
exposing  them."  Here  the  case  is  different,  I  am  exposing 
individuals,  and  not  the  whole  service.  The  medicine  might 
have  the  same  benefit  and  be  more  palatable,  in  the  form  of 
fiction,  and  not  so  likely  to  be  refused  or  nauseated ;  but  that 
species  of  writing  cannot  be  attempted  by  a  common  seaman, 
who  is  therefore  compelled  to  have  resource  to  plain  matter  of 
fact. 


108  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 


CHAPTER   XII. 

The  United  States  ship  Delaware  taken  out  by  Capt.  Downes— the 
commodore  makes  one  cruise  in  her,  and  joins  the  Fairfield — the 
treaty  with  the  Turks  concluded  by  Commodore  Biddle — digression — 
expenses  of  the  Delaware,  while  laying  in  Mak on— injury  to  junior 
officers,  from  that  cause — the  crew  deprived  of  liberty,  and  abused — 
the  cons(3quences— the  conimodore's  conduct  in  Carthagena — his  or- 
ders, and  reserved  habits — his  treatment  of  Commodore  Staines — the 
Warren — conduct  of  the  captain  and  officers — kindness  of  Lieut. 
Junius  J.  Boyle. 

The  United  Stales  ship  of  the  line  Delaware  sailed  from 
Hampton  Roads,  for  the  Medlierranean,  in  the  beginning  of 
the  year  1828.  She  carried  one  of  the  Bonaparte  family  to 
Leghorn,  and  then  went  to  Port  Mahon,  when  the  commodore 
transferred  his  flag  to  her,  and  Capt.  Downes  assumed  the  com- 
mand of  the  frigate  Java.  Soon  after  this,  the  Delaware  sailed 
on  a  short  cruise  and  returned  to  Mahon,  where  we  found  her, 
on  our  arrival  in  the  United  States  ship  Fairfield.  As  soon  as 
we  had  watered  ship,  the  commodore  came  on  board  of  us,  and 
w-e  carried  him  to  Smyrna,  for  the  purpose,  it  was  said,  of  co- 
operating with  an  envoy  that  we  had  carried  out  to  negotiate 
a  treaty  with  the  Turks,  to  have  our  trade  extended  into  the 
Black  Sea.  But  both  were  unsuccessful,  and  it  was  left  for 
Commodore  Biddle  to  accomplish  w^hat  diplomatists  had  tried 
in  vain.  We  carried  that  gallant  little  officer  to  Smyrna,  some 
time  afterwards,  in  the  Lexington ;  from  which  place  he  took 
a  conveyance,  and,  accompanied  by  his  secretary  and  Dr.  Adee, 
started  for  Constantinople.  On  his  arrival  there  he  soon  as- 
certained, that  if  he  followed  in  the  steps  of  those  who  had  pre- 
ceded him,  he  w^ould  meet  with  the  same  success ;  as  on  busi- 
pess  days,  the  sultan  and  his  ministers  were  surrounded  by  the 
British  and  other  ambassadors,  who  would  have  gone  further 
to  keep  our  trade  out  of  the  Black  Sea,  than  we  would  to  have 
it  extended  there.  Commodore  Biddle  saw,  at  a  glance,  how 
matters  stood,  and  that  if  he  depended  upon  pressing  his  suit, 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  109 

on  audience  days,  he  would  come  out  of  the  small  end  of  the 
horn.  He  soon  found,  or  rather  took,  an  opportunity  to  press 
his  suit,  and  was  successful.  He  returned  to  Smyrna,  after  be- 
ing absent  only  eight  or  ten  days,  where  several  merchant  ves- 
sels were  waiting  freight,  and  on  hearing  that  the  treaty  was 
signed,  made  sail  for  the  Black  Sea.  So  that  the  first  intima- 
tion the  British  minister  had  of  the  treaty  being  concluded,  was 
the  sight  of  the  stripes  and  stars  waving  off  the  sublime  porte,  on 
their  way  to  the  Black  Sea.  This  alone,  if  no  other,  ought  to 
show  our  government  the  propriety  of  entrusting  such  missions 
oftener  to  our  military  and  naval  officers,  who,  by  their  educa- 
tion and  general  knowledge,  are  better  acquainted,  and  have  a 
great  advantage  over  men  whose  merits  but  too  often  consist  in 
their  successfully  having  supported  their  party — and  whose 
whole  time  and  study  have  been  devoted  to  that  object,  and 
who  are,  very  frequently,  totally  ignorant  of  the  affairs,  man- 
ners and  customs,  of  foreign  courts.  But  alas !  of  what  am  I 
writing  ?  We  well  know,  when  a  critter  is  killed  in  the  slaugh- 
ter house  of  the  state,  that  there  are  enough  of  hungry  dogs 
always  ready  to  devour,  not  only  the  choice  cuts,  but  even  the 
neck,  flanks,  shin  bones,  and  shank  painters.  If  any  of  this 
herd  are  dissatisfied  with  what  may  fall  to  their  lot,  they  are 
silenced  by  the  head  butcher,  who  tells  them  to  be  content  with 
what  they  get,  and  look  for  better  next  time.  They  are,  gene- 
rally, obedient  curs,  who  stretch  themselves  before  the  shamble 
door,  with  their  bone  between  their  fore  paws,  which  they 
never  relinquisli  until  it  is  completely  cleared  of  all  nutritious 
substance,  or,  at  least,  until  they  expect  another,  when  it  is  left 
to  the  more  ignoble  of  their  species,  a  swarm  of  which  are 
always  in  the  back  ground,  ready  to  take  the  place  of  those 
who  become  glutted  to  satiety.  These  latter  generally  consist 
of  petty  postmasters,  and  dejjuty  collectors,  who  do  not  collect 
enough,  very  often,  to  pay  them  for  their  arduous  services,  and 
the  contempt  that  they  receive  from  their  fellow  citizens;  but 
yet  they  must  be  paid,  as  they  are  very  useful,  especially  about 
election  time,  in  picking  up  stragglers  from  the  convoy,  who 
might  otherwise  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  Every  shot 
fired  at  that  time,  whether  from  a  bum  boat  or  ship  of  the  line, 
10 


110  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

tells.  Perhaps  the  reader  will  say,  especially  if  he  is  an  office 
holder,  that  I,  being  a  sailor,  had  better  confine  myself  to  tar- 
ring riggino^  and  strapping  blocks,  than  to  be  meddling  with 
politics.  True,  it  is,  that  the  former  is  not  so  dirty  a  job  as  the 
latter,  nor  are  people  so  well  paid  for  it ;  but  yet  I  must  have 
my  laugh  at  those  who  would  dare  to  call  themselves  superior 
to  a  poor  son  of  the  ocean.  How  I  should  like  to  see  the  office 
holders  mustered  round  the  capstan,  on  a  Sunday.  My  eye, 
I  reckon  some  of  them  would  get  their  grog  stopped,  for  being 
dirty,  or  having  uncombed  locks.  How  they  would  look,  if 
paraded  on  Boston  common,  with  the  postmaster  general,  the 
father  of  office  holders,  at  their  head.  "  Blue  spirits  and  white, 
green  spirits  and  grey,"  all  looking  towards  their  leader,  with 
looks  of  filial  love. 

y  "  Honest,  honest  Amos!  if  that  thou  art  a  devil, 

iy  1  cannot  kill  thee." 

But  avast  heaving ;  I  must  resume.  We  returned  to  Ma- 
hon,  in  the  Fairfield,  after  being  absent  six  months.  During 
this  time  the  Delaware  had  been  laying  in  port,  at  an  expense 
of  nearly  $20,000  per  month,  exclusive  of  expenses  of  outfits 
and  wear  and  tear,  keeping  the  schooner  Porpoise  running  be- 
tween Mahon  and  Gibraltar  to  supply  her  with  small  stores: 
and  if  we  wished  foreigners  to  know  that  we  had  a  ship  of  the 
line  on  the  station,  we  had  to  tell  them  so;  for  they  never  saw 
her,  unless  they  visited  Mahon,  where  she  lay  snugly  moored, 
with  upwards  of  nine  hundred  as  brave  officers  and  men  on 
board  as  ever  trod  a  plank,  cursing  lethargy  and  indolence.  At 
length  she  got  under  way  and  made  a  cruise,  which  was  her 
second  and  last,  during  the  whole  two  years  that  she  was  upon 
.  the  station,  and  that  was  in  laying  off  and  on  Cape  de  Gatt, 
until  we  got  short  of  water,  and  had  to  run  into  Carthagena  for 
a  supply. 

When  we  cannot  employ  our  ships  of  v^ar  in  a  more  proper 
manner  than  the  Delaware  was,  during  her  first  cruise,  we  had 
better  let  them  rot,  at  our  navy  yards,  than  be  used  to  draw 
money  from  the  public,  to  be  squandered  amongst  pimps  and 
prostitutes,  in  Port  Mahon,  and  thereby  corrupting  both  men 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  Ill 

and  officers.  What  experience  could  midshipmen  get,  on  board 
of  that  ship,  to  qualify  them  to  perform  the  duties  of  lieuten- 
ants ?  Smart,  indeed,  must  they  have  been,  if  they  could  learn 
their  duty,  with  the  chances  afforded  them  in  that  ship.  A  mid- 
shipman is  required  to  see  three  years'  sea  service,  to  entitle 
him  to  an  examination  ;  but  they  could  have  seen  as  much  sea 
service  in  a  receiving  ship,  along  side  of  a  navy  yard,  as  they 
did  in  the  Delaware.  The  consequence  of  her  laying  so  long 
in  port,  was,  that  nearly  every  officer  got  deeply  in  debt,  and 
had  to  get  remittances  from  home, — and  those  who  could  not, 
had  to  join  other  vessels  and  live  upon  their  rations,  until  their 
debts  were  paid  ;  and  several  were  tried  by  a  court  martial,  for 
fraud,  when  Commodore  Biddle  took  command  of  the  squadron. 
Nothing  else  could  be  expected,  where  young  men  were  allowed 
to  go  on  shore  every  third  day,  in  a  port  where  beauty  only 
makes  a  victim  more  conspicuous,  sets  a  higher  price  upon 
prostitution,  and  where  virtue  is  pandered  for  money,  to  the 
highest  bidder.  I  have  said  virtue.  There  is  not  such  a  word 
in  their  whole  vocabulary  :  the  seeds  of  it  are  seldom  or  never 
sown ;  and  if  so,  it  is  crushed  in  the  bud,  or  before  it  can  ripen 
into  maturity.  This  being  the  case,  it  could  not  be  expected 
that  young  officers  would  escape  contamination,  either  of  body 
or  mind.  During  the  whole  of  this  time  the  crew  never  had 
liberty  to  go  on  shore ;  while  those  of  other  ships,  that  did  not 
lay  in  port  more  than  a  month  at  a  time,  had  liberty  given  them 
frequently.  Some  of  the  officers  of  the  Delaware  did  not  hesi- 
tate to  blame  Capt.  Downes,  for  extending  that  indulgence  to 
his  crew  so  often ;  as  they  would  come  along  side  of  the  Dela- 
ware in  shore  boats,  when  on  liberty,  which  tended  to  make 
her  crew,  who  were  deprived  of  such  indulgence,  more  and 
more  discontented.  But  they  ought  to  have  looked  at  the 
other  side  of  the  question,  and  let  their  disapprobation  fall  on 
their  own  commodore,  for  denying  his  men  what  it  was  in  his 
power  to  have  granted,  without  injury  to  the  public  service. 
Liberty  could  not  have  been  denied  to  that  crew  on  the  grounds 
of  the  public  requiring  their  services  on  board,  or  for  fear  of 
their  abusing  it ;  for  it  is  well  known,  that  the  longer  seamen 
are  pooped  up  within  the  narrow  precincts  of  a  vessel  of  war, 


112  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

the  more  likely  they  are  to  run  into  excesses,  and  abuse  liberty, 
when  they  get  on  shore.  There  was  a  combination  of  other 
circumstances  which  tended  to  foster  discontent  on  board  of  the 
Delaware.  For  instance,  one  side  of  the  head  was  reserved 
for  the  marines  and  petty  officers.  Consequently,  seven  hun- 
dred men  had  to  use  the  other  side,  where  the  pump  was,  and 
where  all  the  cooks  had  to  empty  their  dishwater  and  clean 
their  provision.  Such  petty  and  unnecessary  annoyances  were 
very  likely  to  make  men  discontented,  who  knew  them  to  be 
uncalled  for  and  tyrannical.  No  person  was  allowed  to  remain 
on  the  orlop  deck,  and  none  on  the  lower  gun  deck,  except  the 
cooks ;  the  larboard  side  of  the  main  deck  was  the  parade  of  the 
officers,  and  the  starboard  side  was  occupied  with  the  commo- 
dore's tailors,  shoemakers,  and  cabinetmakers  ;  forward  of  these, 
the  carpenters'  and  armorers'  benches  were  erected.  The 
starboard  side  of  the  spar  deck  was,  of  course,  kept  clear.  The 
marines,  in  uniform,  occupied  the  larboard  side  of  the  quarter 
deck — and  the  forecastle  men,  the  larboard  side  of  the  forecas- 
tle ;  so  that  the  space  between  the  fore  and  mainmasts  was  all 
that  was  left  for  the  body  of  the  crew,  say  five  hundred  men, 
and  there  they  were  huddled  together  like  a  parcel  of  sheep, 
from  morning  until  night,  without  room  to  move.  All  the 
iron  stanchions  between  decks  were  burnished  as  bright  as  sil- 
ver, so  that  every  common  seaman  in  the  ship  had  to  spend 
two  or  three  hours,  every  day,  in  polishing  iron  stanchions, 
ring  bolts,  &;c.  These  were  only  a  few  of  the  abuses  in  this 
ship.  Flogging  men  with  pickled  cats,  has  been  mentioned 
elsewhere.  An  anonymous  letter  was  written  to  the  commo- 
dore, setting  forth  the  evils  and  abuses  in  existence  on  board 
the  ship.  This  letter  he  received,  and  gave  it  to  the  first  lieu- 
tenant, with  a  request  to  find  out  the  author  of  it ;  but  the 
abuses  were  not  redressed.  Some  of  those  abuses  may  be 
charged  to  the  first  lieutenant,  but  not  all  of  them,  by  any 
means; — and  when  the  commodore  received  that  letter,  and 
failed  to  correct  the  abuses  complained  of,  or,  in  taking  any 
steps  to  find  out  whether  they  were  real  or  imaginary,  the 
blame  afterwards  rested  wholly  with  him ;  and  depriving  the 
men  of  liberty  was  an  act  of  his  own,  entirely— as  the  first  lieu* 


NA\rAt   A^D    MERCHANT   SERVICE.  113 

tenant,  of  himself,  had  not  power  to  grant  thena  that  indulgence. 
I  sailed  with  the  first  lieutenant,  afterwards,  when  he  became  a 
commander,  and  his  treatment  to  his  men  then,  gave  the  lie  di- 
rect to  any  who  may  have  accused  him  of  being  the  author  of 
the  mean,  tyrannical  acts,  on  board  of  the  Delaware.  When 
he  commanded  the  sloop  of  war  Concord,  the  crew  were  well 
treated,  and  he  paid  much  attention  to  their  wants  and  comfort : 
rarely,  indeed,  did  he  ever  go  to  the  extent  of  the  law  in  pun* 
ishing  an  offender ;  and  punishments,  of  any  kind,  on  board  of 
that  ship  were  few  and  far  between.  He  was  my  friend,  from 
boyhood.  I  honored  and  esteemed  him.  With  him  I  served 
as  boy,  man,  and  officer ;  but  that  would  not  induce  me  to  utter 
a  sentiment  which  is  not  in  unison  with  the  truth,  for  he  now 
moulders  in  his  parent  earth.  To  him,  blame  and  praise  are 
alike — he  heeds  them  not ;  but  this  heart,  while  it  has  a  per- 
ception remaining,  will  cherish  his  memory  with  sentiments  of 
respect  and  filial  gratitude.  The  green  sod  now  decks  his 
grave,  but  it  will  be  watered  by  the  tears  of  many  a  tar  who 
knew  and  loved  him. 

There  are  some  officers  in  our  navy  who  wish  to  command 
rather  from  love  than  from  fear,  and  who  wish  their  men  to 
look  upon  them  as  their  common  father.  But  there  are  others 
who  would  be  considered  as  chiefs,  before  whom  all  must 
tremble,  and  be  obeyed  from  fear  of  the  boatswain's  mate's 
arm,  and  the  lash  of  the  cat.  Of  the  latter  number  was  our 
commodore.  When  one  officer  relinquishes  the  command  of  a 
ship  of  war  to  another,  it  is  customary  before  so  doing,  either 
to  punish  or  forgive  persons  who  are  charged  with  offences. 
But  when  captain  Downes  gave  up  the  command  of  the  Dela- 
ware this  had  not  been  done,  probably  at  the  instigation  of  the 
Commodore  who  wished  to  let  his  crew  know  what  they  might 
expect,  by  giving  them  a  fore-taste  of  his  iron  rule.  The  side 
was  piped,  the  drum  rolled,  and  the  Commodore  rolled  or 
hobbled  over  the  gangway,  as  his  flag  fluttered  at  the  mast- 
head. He  bowed  to  the  officers,  and  directed  the  first  lieut.  to 
bring  up  the  prisoners,  which  was  done,  and  he  came  to  the 
gangway  with  the  report  in  his  hand.  "  David  Burns,  boat- 
swain's mate,  I  break  you,''  said  the  commodore;  "  strip  ;  seize 
10* 


114  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

him  up,  and  boatswain's  mate,  do  your  duty."  The  man  done 
so,  and  received  two  dozen  lashes,  and  in  the  same  manner  he 
served  the  whole.  One  of  them  said,  while  undergoing  the 
torture,  "  Oh,  commodore,  do  forgive  me  ;  I  will  never  get  drunk 
again."  "  If  I  forgive  you,^^  said  the  commodore,  "  1  hope  God 
will  never  forgive  we."  These  were  his  words.  All  the  pri- 
soners were  punished  with  two  dozen  each,  without  any  parley, 
or  investigation  as  to  the  truth  of  the  offences  with  which  they 
were  charged.  Many  of  them  were  petty  officers,  and  the 
crimes  were  generally  drunkenness.  Now  it  remains  for  the  com- 
modore to  say  in  what  part  of  the  rules  and  regulations,  made 
by  Congress  for  the  better  government  of  the  navy,  he  derived 
his  authority  to  break  petty  officers  that  he  had  not  rated,  and 
punish  them  with  two  dozen  lashes.  He  violated  the  laws  as 
much  by  going  beyond  them  to  punish,  (and  thereby  become 
as  great  a  criminal,)  as  the  men  he  punished. 

I  will  not  attempt  to  analyze  the  motives  by  which  the  com- 
modore was  actuated  in  depriving  the  men  of  liberty  for  so 
long  a  period,  but  confine  myself  to  stating  the  results,  which 
were  of  a  very  alarming  nature.  On  our  arrival  in  Carthagena 
the  crew  were  very  discontented,  and  as  the  utmost  expedition 
was  used  in  watering  the  ship,  they  were  harrassed  a  great  deal. 
When  the  last  cask  of  water  was  ready  to  be  hoisted  out  of  the 
launch,  the  crew  run  it  up  to  the  yard  until  the  tackle  was  block 
and  block,  and  kept  it  suspended  there  for  some  time,  then  let  it 
go  by  the  run  upon  deck.  This  was  the  first  open  act  of  dis- 
affection that  they  evinced.  The  officers  went  among  them  to 
find  out  the  ringleaders,  but  their  inquiries  were  answered  by 
sullen  looks.  For  this  they  were  kept  without  their  hammocks 
until  ten  o'clock  at  night,  which,  instead  of  allaying,  increased 
their  discontent.  A  short  time  after  our  arrival  in  Mahon, 
they  respectfully  asked  leave  to  go  on  shore,  to  which  they  re- 
ceived no  definite  answer ;  at  the  same  time  the  Java's  men 
were  on  liberty  and  sailing  round  the  harbor,  which  tended  to 
foster  the  spirit  of  discontent  that  was  ready  to  burst  into  open 
mutiny.  When  the  hands  were  turned  to,  one  day,  shoitly 
after  our  arrival,  the  master's  mate  and  boatswain,  as  usual, 
went  on  the  berth  deck  to  drive  the  men  up ;  but  four  or  five 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  115 

hundred  of  them  refused  to  go,  and  triced  up  all  the  ladders 
fore  and  aft,  except  the  after  one,  to  prevent  any  one  doing  so, 
and  swore  venixeance  aojainst  all  who  dared  to  let  thum  down. 
Word  was  carried  to  the  first  lieutenant  that  the  crew  were  in 
a  state  of  mutiny.  I  was  by  his  side  when  the  report  was 
made.  His  countenance  underwent  a  slight  change,  but  his 
compressed  lips  told  that  his  resolution  was  taken.  He  went 
down  the  after  ladder  and  ordered  the  men  on  deck,  who  had 
by  this  time  collected  in  a  body  between  the  guns  and  abaft 
the  sick  bay  ;  one  of  them  said,  "  Mr.  M ,  we  want  liber- 
ty ;  we  have  been  on  the  station  nearly  two  years  and  never 
had  any,  while  the  crews  of  all  other  vessels  have.  Why  can'i 
we  have  the  same  ?  what  have  we  done  ?"  The  first  lieut. 
replied  in  his  usual  tone,  "  This  is  a  pretty  way  to  get  liberty 
you  rascals  ;  you  ouglit  to  be  ashamed  to  disgrace  yourselves 
in  this  way  ;  the  commodore  will  give  you  liberty  in  proper 
time  ;  let  down  the  ladders  and  go  on  deck  ;  don't  let  me  see 
any  more  of  such  nonsense  as  this."  They  did  as  he  ordered 
them  ;  but  had  it  not  been  for  the  coolness  that  he  displayed, 
and  the  light  manner  in  which  he  treated  their  contempt  for 
the  authority  of  the  boatswain  and  master's  mate,  a  scene 
would  have  taken  place  that  afternoon  that  would  have  dis- 
graced our  navy  and  caused  the  shedding  of  innocent  blood. 
If  the  first  lieutenant  had  called  the  marines  to  drive  them  up 
by  force,  as  many  officers  would  have  done,  that  would  have 
been  the  signal  for  a  general  revolt.  The  muskets  would  have 
been  taken  from  the  marines  before  they  could  have  fixed  their 
bayonets,  and  would  have  been  used  against  them. 

If  the  commodore  had  become  decrepid  from  excesses,  and 
could  not  enjoy  pleasure,  either  on  board  or  on  shore,  that  was 
not  any  reason  why  he  should  have  deprived  the  seamen  under 
him  from  doing  so,  or  that  he  should  have  endeavored  to  make 
those  around  him  as  miserable  as  he  was  himself.  If  he  envied 
them  the  good  health  and  strength  that  they  were  enjoying, 
he  ought  to  have  reflected  that  tiie  same  would  have  been  his 
lot  if  he  had  not  indulged  too  far  in  luxuries  which  will  debili- 
tate and  impair  the  strongest  mind  and  constitution  ;  ''  it  is  the 
curse  of  greatness."     Seamen  who  earn  their  bread  by  hard 


116  liVlLS  AND  abuses  tJJTHEl 

labor,  are  never  troubled  with  the  gout,  their  faculties,  of  both 
body  and  mind,  remain  unimpaired  to  the  last.  Not  so  with 
many  officers  ;  they  become  a  burthen  to  themselves  and  an  an- 
noyance to  those  around  them,  even  while  they  ought  to  be 
in  the  prime  of  life.  Such  men  have  many  griefs,  yet  meet 
with  no  compassion.  Look  at  those  whose  whole  pleasure 
and  enjoyment  consists  in  the  delicacy  of  the  wine  and  the 
sumptuousness  of  the  board.  Their  hours  of  jollity  and  riot 
are  followed  by  tedious  days  of  pain  and  dejection,  they  de- 
bauch and  pall  their  appetites  ;  from  votaries  they  become 
victims,  the  just  and  natural  consequences  which  God  has  or- 
dained in  the  constitution  of  things  for  those  who  abuse  his 
gifts.  They  become  enfeebled,  and  pampered  with  luxury, 
softened  by  sloth,  strength  soon  forsakes  their  limbs,  and  health 
their  constitution.  How  different  seamen  are  ?  they  continue 
healthy  and  active  until  they  are  taken  from  the  world. 

[  will  pursue  matters  still  further,  and  show  what  little  things 
great  men  will  sometimes  be  guilty  of.  I  wish  perfectly  to  be 
understood.  There  are  no  insinuations  in  this  chapter,  nor  in 
any  others  of  the  book ;  all  is  intended  that  the  words  convey, 
and  nothing  more.  I  should  shrink  from  making  any  assertions 
in  this  public  manner  that  I  did  not  know  to  be  truth,  and  I  too 
would  scorn  to  bow  the  knee  to  any  great-little  man,  because 
he  was  high  in  office ;  or  keep  any  thing  from  the  public  which 
should  be  known  to  it.  With  this  explanation  I  will  proceed 
to  relate  some  occurrences  which  took  place  on  board  of  the 
Delaware  while  in  Carthagena.  ,On  our  arrival  in  that  port 
the  news  spread  rapidly  that  an  American  ship  of  the  line  had 
arrived.  Thousands  flocked  to  see  her,  as  it  is,  or  was  seldom 
that  any  of  our  vessels  of  war  touched  there. 

Many  of  the  Spaniards  were  no  doubt  allured  to  visit  her 
from  the  recollection  that  she  came  from  the  New  World,  dis- 
covered by  those  under  their  flag,  and  which  discovery  had  so 
greatly  tended  to  exalt  them  as  a  nation.  Such  recollections 
were  calculated  to  call  forth  the  latent  spirit  of  the  once  proud 
Spaniard,  to  the  days  when  their  country's  flag  waved  over  a 
new  continent,  and  which  brought  to  their  treasury  the  gold 
and  gems  that  made  them  the  most  powerful  nation  in  Europe^ 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  117 

For  the  first  two  days  after  our  arrival,  great  numbers  flock- 
ed to  see  the  ship,  and  on  the  last  of  our  stay  there  was  a  per- 
fect fleet  of  boats  around  her  from  morning  until  sundown.  The 
visitors  were  of  the  most  respectable  class,  for  no  others  could 
afford  to  pay  for  a  conveyance,  so  great  was  the  demand  for 
boats.  The  governor  and  suite  also  visited  her.  with  a  great 
number  of  military  officers,  and  received  a  salute  ;  and  again 
came  on  board  attended  by  a  number  of  ladies  and  gentlemen 
of  the  first  rank.  But  none  of  these  were  received  by  the  com- 
modore, who  confined  himself  to  his  cabin.  The  officers  as  a 
matter  of  course,  w^ished  to  show  the  governor  and  party  every 
part  of  the  ship,  and  obtained  permission  to  show  them  the  cabin. 
But  the  commodore  had  no  idea  that  they  should  see  him,  for 
after  directing  refreshments  to  be  placed  upon  the  table,  he 
withdrew  to  one  of  the  state-rooms,  as  a  bear  would  into  a  hol- 
low tree.  The  Spaniards  were  his  equals  in  rank,  and  if  so, 
what  kept  him  from  showing  them  the  courtesy  and  attention 
which  common  decency  demanded  ?  During  this  time  the  first 
lieut.  had  directed  the  officer  of  the  deck  to  cease  hoisting  in 
the  w^ater,  as  the  decks  were  so  crowded  with  strangers,  that 
the  men  in  running  fore  and  aft  with  the  yard  and  stay  tackles 
were  running  over  them.  The  commodore  soon  ascertained 
the  cause  of  the  cessation,  and  as  his  orders  were  commonly 
written  upon  slips  of  paper,  one  to  the  following  effect  w^as 
handed  to  the  first  lieut.  by  the  orderly  at  the  cabin  door. 

"  Sir, — The  work  of  the  ship  must  not  be  stopped,  if  we  are 
to  be  visited  by  the  royal  family.  

To  Lieut.  M.  P.  M." 

The  launch  was  again  brought  to  the  gangway  and  the 
operation  of  hoisting  in  the  water  commenced,  regardless  of 
the  consequences.  So  great  was  the  desire  to  see  the  ship, 
that  nobility  from  the  interior  of  the  country,  even  came  on  board 
in  the  poorest  fishing  boats,  sooner  than  be  disappointed  in  the 
object  of  their  visit  to  the  city.  Never  have  1  seen  so  many 
boats  around  any  one  vessel.  On  returning  from  the  shore  in 
a  boat,  I  could  not  get  near  the  gangway,  but  stepped  from 
one  boat  to  another  for  upwards  of  a  hundred  yards,  to  get  on 
board.     On  the  afternoon  of  the  third  day,  a  great  many  ladies 


118  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

were  on  board  ;  the  band  was  turned  up,  and  the  officers  and 
ladies  were  dancing  on  tiie  main  deck  and  in  the  ward-room ; 
but  another  note  from  the  commodore  ended  that  amusement. 

"  Sir, — 1  believe  our  worthless  band  to  be  the  cause  of  so 
many  visitors.  

To  Lieut.  M.  P.  M." 

On  the  receipt  of  this,  the  band  was  dismissed,  but  the  offi- 
cers tried  by  every  means  in  their  power  to  make  up  for  the 
want  of  courtesy  of  their  commodore,  and  succeeded  ;  for  a  finer 
set  of  fellows  never  went  on  board  of  a  ship.  Tjieut.  J.  S.  P. 
was  a  perfect  master  of  the  Spanish  and  French  languages,  and 

Lieut.  E.  B.  commonly  called   Ned  B ns  could  speak  no 

tongue  but  English,  and  yet  he  was  so  lively  a  dog  that 
every  one  could  understand  him  without  an  interpreter,  for  the 
governor's  lady  declined  the  assistance  of  Lieut  J.  S.  P.  in  that 

capacity,  declaring  that  she  perfectly  understood  Mr.   B , 

and  preferred  his  company  without  the  presence  of  a  third  per- 
son. Lieuts.  L.  M.  G.  and  J.  S.  C.  were  also  on  board,  and 
were  calculated  to  shine  in  any  company.  All  was  joy  and 
pleasure,  until  another  of  the  commodore's  orders  came  along. 
The  water  had  by  this  time  been  all  got  on  board,  and  the  or- 
der ran  as  follows : 

"  Sir, — You  will  unship  the  side  ladder,  pass  the  messenger, 
and  prepare  the  ship  for  sea.  

To  Lieut.  M.  P.  M." 

The  first  lieut.  said  be  would  delay  unshipping  the  side  lad* 
der  for  twenty  minutes,  to  enable  the  officers  to  get  the  visitors 
out  of  the  ship.  During  this  time  the  master's  mates,  master 
at  arms  and  ship  corporals,  were  hurrying  the  more  humble  part 
over  the  side.  But  at  the  end  of  the  appointed  tinje,  a  num- 
ber of  ladies  and  gentlemen  were  in  the  ward-room,  and  deli- 
cacy forbade  the  officers  telling  them  that  their  absence  would 
be  more  agreeable  than  their  company.  The  twenty  minutes 
expired.  The  yard  and  stay  tackles  were  hooked  on  to  the 
gangway  ladder,  and  it  was  swung  in-board,  leaving  the  Dela- 
ware's side  apparently  inaccessible,  and  frowning  with  the  muz- 
zles of  heavy  pieces  of  artillery.      To  obviate  this  difficulty  a 


Naval  and  merchant  service.  119 

chair  was  rigged,  and  the  ladies  got  over  the  side  in  that  man- 
ner. Some  of  the  officers,  however,  may  remember  an  occur- 
rence that  took  place  that  evening.  A  very  pretty  Spanish 
girl,  of  fifteen,  had  been  very  gay  and  witty  all  the  afternoon, 
and  appeared  to  be  much  pleased ;  she  got  into  the  chair,  the 
word  was  given,  and  she  swung  over  the  hammocks  suspended 
from  the  main  yard,  at  which  she  was  so  excited  as  to  spring 
a  le —  (I  almost  said  it.)  Lieut.  G.  was  in  the  boat,  ready  to 
take  her  out,  and  was  sprinkled  with  something, — no  matter 
what, — suffice  it  to  say,  it  was  not  eau  de  cologne,  at  least  so 
went  the  report ;  whether  it  was  only  a  yarn  of  Mr.  B.'s  or 
not,  your  deponent  saith  not. 

A  splendid  party  was  given  at  the  governor's  that  evening, 
to  which  our  officers  were  invited,  and  the  next  day  we  made 
sail  for  Cape  de  Gatt  again.  Why  we  could  not  have  re- 
mained a  few  days  longer  in  Carthagena,  instead  of  returning 
to  Mahon,  must  be  answered  by  the  commodore.  In  the  for- 
mer place  there  was  the  best  society,  and  our  young  officers 
could  have  been  both  amused  and  instructed  ;  but  in  the  latter 
there  w^as  no  society,  and  the  very  air  was  pregnant  with  pros- 
titution and  wickedness. 

When  the  commodore  wished  to  visit  the  once  celebrated 
arsenal  in  Carthagena  he  went  early  in  the  morning,  when  the 
officers  could  not  pay  the  respect  to  him  that  they  could  have 
wished,  had  they  been  aware  of  his  visit.  He  appeared  to 
shun  receiving  all  marks  of  respect,  as  the  acerbity  of  his 
nature  would  not  allow  him  to  return  them.  When  he  was  on 
board  of  the  Fairfield,  in  Smyrna,  it  was  well  known  to  all 
the  English  officers  that  he  was  on  board,  although  he  did  not 
hoist  his  broad  pendant.  Commodore  Staines,  of  the  British 
frigate  Isis  visited  the  Fairfield,  but  our  commodore  hid  himself 
in  the  quarter  gallery,  and  left  the  captain  to  receive  him  and 
return  his  visit.  This  slight  to  Commodore  Staines  was,  no 
doubt,  felt  by  him,  and  wondered  at.  Commodore  Staines  was 
very  nearly  the  equal  of  our  commodore  in  rank,  and  in  years, 
service,  and  brilliant  actions,  he  was  vastly  his  superior.  When 
our  governrrent  cannot  find  officers  to  command  our  squadrons 
on  foreign  stations,  who  are  willing  to  give  and  receive  those 


ISO  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

visits  which  are  so  productive  of  benefit,  and  which  tend  to  a 
cultivation  of  intimacy  and  friendship  between  our  officers  and 
those  of  other  nations,  it  would  be  better  to  keep  them  at 
home,  and  save  the  expense  of  supporting  them  abroad.  If 
such  men  have  got  into  ilie  service,  keep  them  at  home,  in 
navy  yards,  where  their  high  flown,  aristocratic  notions  will  be 
repaid  by  tlie  contempt  of  their  fellow  citizens,  who,  of  all 
others,  know  how  best  to  treat  men  who  are  guilty  of  such  little 
mean  acts. 

I  joined  the  Warren  for  a  few  months,  in   1829,  under  the 

command  of  Captain  H r  ;  here  the  same   rules  were  in 

existence  as  on  board  the  Fairfield.  Every  officer  of  the  deck 
was  allowed  to  flog  who,  and  when  he  pleased,  and  there  was 
one  (who  was  afterwards  tried  by  a  court  martial,  for  similar 
acts  and  suspended  for  two  years,  which  induced  him  to  resign) 
who  never  had  the  deck  but  what  he  would  flog  some  person ; 
if  he  only  relieved  another  officer  to  his  meals  he  would  pick 
a  fault  and  flog  some  person  before  he  went  below.  Several 
of  the  other  officers  carried  a  high  hand,  but  they  were  not  so 
destitute  of  humane  feelings  as  he. 

We  lay  in  Smyrna  during  the  winter,  when  it  was  very  cold, 
but  the  moment  that  the  sound  was  out  of  the  bell  at  four 
o'clock,  A.  M.  the  pipe  was  in  the  boatswain's  mouth  to  pipe 
the  hammocks  up ;  then  it  would  be  either  wash  clothes,  scrub 
hammocks,  or  holy  stone  decks,  although  it  was  not  daylight 
until  after  six  o'clock.  Every  man  had  to  strip  off  his  shoes 
and  stockings  and  walk  about  in  the  cold  water  for  three  hours  ; 
and  all  this  exposure  might  have  been  avoided.  At  the  same 
time  the  crew  of  the  Java  weie  not  turned  out  of  their  ham- 
mocks until  seven  o'clock. 

The  captain,  when  a  man  was  reported  to  him,  never  pun- 
ished with  less  than  two  dozen  lashes  ;  and  that  too  for  an 
offence  of  which  none  were  oftener  guilty  than  himself.  He 
would  flog  a  sailor  for  being  drunk,  when  his  own  eyes  were 
blood-shot,  and  he  was  suffering  from  the  effects  of  the  previous 
night's  debauch.  Happy  am  I  to  state  that  there  was  one 
officer  on  board,  who  by  his  kindness  and  humanity,  redeemed, 
in  part,  the  obloquy  attached  to  the  whole.     His  name  was 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  121 

J,  J.  Boyle,  and  a  better  fellow  never  drew  the  breath  of  life ; 
he  felt  as  much  pain  in  punishing  a  man,  as  his  messmates  did 
pleasure  in  doing  the  same  thing.  If  he  called  one  man  to  do 
any  duty,  twenty  were  ready  to  jump  to  do  his  bidding.  There 
are  many  such  officers  growing  up  in  the  navy  ;  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  there  are  many  who  are  of  a  very  different  disposi- 
tion. On  one  occasion,  a  negro  lost  the  dirt  tub  overboard, 
and  the  captain,  who  was  walking  the  poop,  ordered  a  boat  to 
pick  it  up,  and  directed  Mr.  Boyle,  who  had  the  deck,  to  pun- 
ish the  man  for  losing  it  by  accident,  Mr.  Boyle  did  so  ;  but 
he  only  made  the  boatswain's  mate  give  him  two  lashes,  and 
told  him  that  the  next  time  he  would  get  as  much  again. 
Had  some  of  his  brother  officers  been  in  his  stead,  the  poor 
negro  w^ould  have  got  a  dozen  or  more.  There  was  a  lieuten-7 
ant  on  board,  W.  P.  P.,  who  took  delight  in  whipping  the 
cook's  mate  upon  all  occasions  ;  but  he  never  could  draw  any 
demonstration  of  pain  from  the  lips  of  the  black.  He  flogged 
him  over  the  back  and  the  seat  of  honor,  but  with  the  same 
success.  At  length  he  made  him  stand  upon  the  side  ladder 
and  directed  the  boatswain's  mate  to  flog  him  over  the  shins  ; 
this  was  the  negro's  tender  part,  and   he  shouted  from  pain. 

"  Ha,  you  d d  nigger,  I  have  found   out  your  heart,  have 

I  ?"  at  the  same  time  smiling  in  savage  barbarity,  and  looking 
forward  to  the  men  for  approval  for  his  ingenuity,  but  in  their 
looks  he  read  nothing  but  hatred  and  scorn.     After  an  act  like  ) 
this,  let  our  northern  people  talk  about  slaves  and  slave-driversJ 
In  this  chapter  I  have  not  given  names  in  full,  but  any  officer 
who  was  in  the   navy  eleven   years  ago,  knows  who  are  in- 
tended— and  my  object  is  to  show  that  abuses  exist  and,  where   , 
they  have  taken  place,  without  wishing  to  lay  the  names  of  the 
authors  before  the  public. 

To  account  for  my  being  in  so  many  vessels  in  the  Medi- 
terranean, I  must  state  that  I  went  out  in  the  Fairfield,  joined 
the  Delaware  with  Lieut.  M.  P.  M,,  and  when  she  sailed  for  the 
United  States,  I  went  on  board  the  Lexington.  Shortly  after- 
wards Capt.  H r,  of  the  Lexington,  took  command  of  the 

Warren,  and  took  twelve  men  with  him,  of  which  I  was  on^^ 
11 


1221  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

He  again  took  the  Lexington,  and  we  returned  with  him,  and 
came  to  Norfolk  in  her  in  November,  1830. 

Relative  to  the  notes  or  orders  of  the  commodore,  which 
are  inserted  here,  I  have  to  say  that  I  was  about  the  person  of 
the  first  lieutenant,  and  saw  these  orders  and  many  others  that, 
I  forbear  inserting,  in  this  edition  at  least,  and  I  kept  a  journal 
during  the  whole  ten  years  that  I  was  in  the  navy,  and  by  that 
means  I  am  enabled  to  refer  to  facts  which  otherwise  might 
have  escaped  the  memory ;  and  this  may  account  for  my  being 
so  particular  as  to  dates,  &ic.  Without  this  explanation,  the 
reader  may  think  that  I  have  colored  from  fiction  instead  of 
drawing  from  facts. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

Receiving  ships — what  they  ought  to  be — Hudson—Columbus — 

Congress — The  Java,  and   Lieut.  S r — his  drunkenness,  abuse, 

tyranny,  and  oppression— lines  written  to  him — Lewis  an<l  Lieut. 
S r  &  Co. — Scandal — Lieut.  S r — his  character — his  bad  ex- 
ample to  junior  officers— slaves  held  on  board  the  Java,  contrary  to 
law,  and  their  masters  receiving  their  pay. 

It  is  generally  believed  that  first  impressions  are  the  most 
lasting.  If  this  is  the  case,  great  care  ought  to  be  taken  in  se- 
lecting the  officers  for  our  receiving  ships  ;  for  if  any  thing  hap- 
pens to  give  a  man  a  distaste  for  the  service,  when  he  enters  it, 
it  will  be  found  very  difficult  to  eradicate  that  impression  or  dis- 
taste ;  so  that  receiving  ships,  of  all  others,  ought  to  be  well 
regulated  and  conducted.  I  know  of  no  better  method  to  do 
this,  than  to  have  their  commanders  live  on  board  of  them,  with 
their  families.  This  was  the  case  when  I  was  on  board  of  the 
receiving  ship  Hudson,  at  New  York,  and  I  believe  that  the 
same  is  the  case  on  board  the  Columbus,  at  Charlestown  navy 
yard.  The  lady  of  the  captain,  even  of  a  sea-going  vessel,  if 
she  went  with  him,  would  be  productive  of  much  good.  She 
would  be  a  bridle  on  the  tongues  of  officers,  as  well  as  on  their 
actions,  if  they  were  disposed  to  indulge  in  abuse  or  oppression ; 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE."  123 

for  no  man  would  heedlessly  forfeit  the  good  opinion  of  a  virtuous 
lady.  Many  officers  are  of  opinion  that  they  must  dress  better 
when  there  is  a  lady  on  board ;  but  every  person,  unless  a  fop, 
must  know  that  a  sensible  female's  good  opinion  is  not  to  be 
purchased  by  a  showy  appearance :  w^omen  generally  look  for 
something  more  substantial  than  a  handsome  coat  and  gaudy 
dress.  It  has  been  said,  rather  unjustly,  that  women  are 
troublesome  on  board  of  a  vessel  of  war;  but  all  the  little 
trouble  they  would  cause,  would  be  amply  repaid  by  the  re- 
straint that  their  presence  would  impose  upon  those  who  were 
in  any  way  disposed  to  trifle  with  or  abuse  the  authority  with 
which  the  law  had  vested  them.  On  board  the  Hudson,  at 
New  York,  we  had  several  hundred  men  on  board  at  different 
times.  Punishment  was  seldom  inflicted,  and  never,  when  it 
could  by  any  means  be  avoided.  Citizens  were  allowed  to 
come  on  board,  and  visit  any  of  their  friends  or  acquaintance 
that  might  be  in  the  ship ;  and  the  same  is  the  case  at  the  yard 
in  Charlestown.  By  this  means  the  crews  are  made  to  expe- 
rience as  much  happiness  as  their  situation  is  capable  of 
allowing. 

In  order  that  I  may  be  understood  by  the  landsmen,  I  must 
state,  that  receiving  ships  are  vessels  which  are  kept  near  the 
navy  yards,  to  receive  men  from  the  rendezvous,  and  keep 
them  until  they  are  required  to  go  on  board  of  some  vessel  for 
active  service.  What  are  termed  ordinary  men,  also  live  on 
board  of  them.  They  are  persons  shipped  for  the  navy,  gene- 
rally landsmen ;  they  do  not  go  to  sea,  but  are  usually  em- 
ployed in  the  navy  yard,  or  on  board  of  vessels  not  in  com- 
mission. 

When  I  was  on  board  the  receiving  ship  Congress,  at  Norfolk, 
In  1831,  the  captain  did  not  live  on  board,  but  the  first  lieutenant 
did,  and  had  his  wife  with  him,  and  there  was  little  punishment 
on  board  of  her.  When  I  returned  to  that  place  again,  in  1834, 
every  thing  had  changed.  The  Java  was  receiving  ship ;  the 
captain  lived  on  shore,  and  the  first  lieutenant  lived  on  board — 
yet  he  had  no  wife, — and  I  do  not  believe  that  any  woman, 
well  acquainted  with  him,  would  think  the  offer  of  his  hand  a 
compliment.     He  was  a  man  totally  unfitted  for  the  station. 


124  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

He  was  forbid,  by  the  general  orders,  to  punish  any  person,  on  his 
own  authority ;  yet  he  often  violated  the  orders,  and  was  the  most 
abusive,  tyrannical  officer,  that  I  ever  knew.  He  would  not 
hesitate  to  couple  God's  name  with  curses  and  profane  oaths, 
and  hi  the  same  breath  would  blast  the  honor  of  a  man's  mother, 
on  the  most  trivial  occasions,  when  the  captain  was  absent.  In 
truth,  he  was  so  ignorant  as  to  suppose  that  this  was  the  only 
way  to  make  himself  obeyed  and  respected,  and  thought  that 
such  conduct  was  proof  of  a  good  officer.  Vain  man  !  had  he 
only  known  the  utter  contempt  felt  for  him,  by  the  men  whom 
he  looked  upon  as  inferiors,  he  would  have  sunk  into  the  earth, 
with  a  sense  of  his  own  littleness.  From  him  there  was  no 
appeal.  He  had  the  ear  of  the  captain,  which  he  poisoned 
with  falsehoods  against  the  men, — and  no  man  dared  to  write 
to  the  commodore,  who  was  perhaps  ignorant  of  his  conduct, — 
and  the  secretary  of  the  navy  could  not  be  addressed  but 
through  the  commodore ;  so  from  the  barriers  that  were  placed 
between  men  and  redress,  he  reigned  secure.  In  order  to  show 
the  opinion  formed  of  him  by  the  crew,  some  man,  who  had  a 
smattering  of  education,  wrote  the  following  lines  on  him,  which 
he  found  out,  and  ascribed  to  me ;  and,  like  many  better  men, 
I  had  to  lay  under  the  weight  of  another's  bad  writings,  which 
made  me  no  favorite  with  him ;  and  anxiously  did  he  look,  in 
vain  however,  for  an  opportunity  to  bring  me  to  the  gangway. 

Lines  to  A.  G.  S r.,  First  Lieut,  of  the  Frigate  Java, 

On  ocean's  brine,  to  place  a  swine, 

Dame  Nature  once  bethought  Iier ; 
But  then,  again,  she  changed  her  plan, 

And  from  the  swine  she  made  a  man, 
And  called  him  A.  G.  S r. 

This  nondescript  the  sailors  whip'd, 

Because  it  was  his  notion  ; 
But  ne'er  could  learn  to  take  his  turn 

At  watch,  upon  the  ocean. 

The  boatswain's  mates  he  roundly  rate^, 

And  calls  them  sons  of  b es, 

If  their  crack  should  fail  to  break 

The  purser's  good  sound  stitches, 


NAt^AL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  125 

For  nine  long  years  his  name  appears, 

As  a  reefer^  in  our  navy, 
Till  by  a  chance,  he  met  advance,  t 

And  now  struts  on  board  the  Java. 

The  galley  cooks,  his  sour  looks 
\  Must  patiently  endure, 

Save  he  who  makes  his  good  pound  cakes — 
Old  Lewis,  to  be  sure. 

The  rhyme  was  much  longer,  but  I  presme  this  is  enough 
for  the  reader's  amusement.  That  he  was  ignorant  of  his  duty 
as  a  seaman,  was  well  known  to  every  person ;  and  the  old 
Lewis  alluded  to  was  his  cook,  who  was  allowed  to  bring  things 
on  board  to  sell  to  the  men,  for  the  pound  cakes  and  other 

good  things  that  he  made  for  Lieut.  S r.     Many  did  not 

hesitate  to  say  that  he  and  the  darJcey  were  in  company,  in  the 
bum  boat  line,  as  it  was  a  monopoly  business  ;  for  none  were 
allowed  to  carry  it  on  but  Lewis.     But  this,  of  course,  was  only 
slander,  in  consequence  of  the  hatred  felt  by  our  citizens  for  a  * 
monopoly,  of  any  kind.     The  pound  cakes  were,  no  doubt,  all 

that  Lieut.  S r  received  for  the  charter  to  Lewis.    But  Lewis 

and  his  friend  at  last  quarrelled,  as  partners  will  sometimes  do. 
Lewis's  trade  was  stopped,  and  he  brought  in  a  bill  against  his 
silent  partner,  for  the  pound  cakes  consumed  by  him ;  and  how 
far  the  affair  would  have  went  it  would  be  hard  to  say.  Lieut. 
S r  threatened  to  use  the  colt,  and  Lewis  escaped  by  vol- 
unteering as  Commodore  Dallas's  cook,  and  thereby  the  bill 

for  the  cakes  was  lost.     Lieut.  S r  would  sometimes  come 

forward  when  under  the  influence  of  liquor,  which  was  about 
every  evening,  and  try  to  make  the  men  sing  to  him — as  Saul 
made  David  do,  when  he  was  possessed  of  the  evil  spirit ;  but 
few  were  willing  to  humor  him,  except  one  who  had  stolen  his 

shipmate's  blankets,  and  was  forgiven  by  Mr.  S r,  and  he 

thought  it  would  show  his  gratitude  by  singing  for  his  amuse- 

*  A  midshipman. 

t  Lieut.  S r  was  not  examined,  and  passed,  as  is  the  custom  at  present. 

He  received  an  acting  appointment  as  lieutenant,  and  it  was  confirmed  by 
the  department,  before  the  law  went  into  force  respecting  the  examination 
of  midshipmen, 

11* 


126  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

ment, — and  as  the  man  was  compelled  to  give  back  the  stolen 

blankets,  Mr.  S r  gave  him  two,  of  his  own.     On  other 

occasions,  when  the  men  were  singing  for  their  own  amusement, 
he  would  knock  them  off  and  drive  them  to  their  hammocks. 
One  evening,  a  little  after  sunset,  when  I  was  in  the  netting, 
throwing  out  the  men's  hammocks,  (1  was  then  rated  gunner's 

mate,)  Lieut.  S r  was  brought  on  board,  by  two  persons, 

in  a  beastly  state  of  intoxication — so  drunk  that  he  could  not 
walk.  He  was  carried  below,  and  the  same  evening  he  sent 
his  servant  on  shore  to  bring  on  board  a  mulatto  girl,  well 
known  to  every  seaman  and  marine  as  a  common  low  prosti- 
tute. This  happened  about  eight  o'clock,  and  the  sentinel  de- 
tained her  in  the  gangway  until  the  corporal  of  the  guard  passed 

her  in  by  orders  from  Lieut.  S r.     I  will  not  follow  the 

pair  to  the  cabin,  nor  repeat  the  reports  current  next  day 
among  the  servants  and  quarter  masters,  as  it  would  not  be  be- 
lieved of  a  commissioned  officer,  nor,  of  any  man  who  has  the 
standing  in  society  that  our  officers  of  the  navy  have ;  more- 
over, it  would  shock  delicate  ears.  He  was  cowardly  and  ig- 
norant. He  insulted  a  gentleman,  who  challenged  him  ;  yet  he 
refused  to  meet  him,  as  he  was  not  his  equal  in  rank,  but  pre- 
ferred charges  against  him,  and  had  him  broke  by  a  court  mar- 
tial. The  President  of  the  United  States,  however,  reinstated 
him.     Of  drunkenness,  in  the  worst  sense  of  the  word,  1  do 

accuse  Lieut.  S r,  fairly  and  openly,  and  am  ready  to  prove 

it  against  him.  He  returned  from  the  Straits,  in  the  United 
States  ship  of  the  line  Delaware,  in  1829,  and  did  not  go  to 
sea  again  until  some  time  in  1837.  He  always  had  some  ex- 
cuse to  beg  off  with,  when  ordered  to  sea.  To  sum  up  the 
man's  character  in  a  few  words,  he  was  the  terror  of  subordi- 
nates, and  the  sycophant  of  superiors — by  turns  the  mastiff  and 
the  spaniel.  It  needs  no  inspiration  to  predict,  that  he  will 
through  life  be  detested,  unlamented  in  death,  and  in  the  grave 
forgotten. 

While  I  was  on  board  the  Java  some  persons  were  always 
at  work  for  him,  rigging  little  ships,  making  mats,  or  some 
other  such  things,  to  present  to  his  acquaintances.  The 
last  time  I  was  on  board  three  men  were  employed  for  upwards 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  127 

of  a  month  on  one  small  model  of  a  vessel  of  war  for  him, 
while  others  were  employed  in  the  navy  yard.  The  aged  or 
infirm  were  compelled  to  labor  in  the  yard  daily,  unless  upon 
the  sick  list,  while  he  could  employ  several  men  at  his  own 
private  work.  His  conduct  and  treatment  of  the  crew  of  the 
Vandalia  and  others  have  created  a  hatred  against  him,  among 
seamen,  that  no  after  conduct  can  atone  for.  The  authority 
that  he  gave  men  so  destitute  of  principle  as  his  aids,  Webster 
and  Goodhues,  cannot  be  looked  over :  they  were  allowed  to 
carry  rattans  with  bullets  on  the  ends  of  them,  and  knock 
down  and  confine  in  irons  whoever  they  pleased.  Had  hell 
been  raked  with  a  fine  tooth  comb,  two  such  villains  would  not 
have  been  found.  They  are  so  contemptible,  so  much  below 
everything  deserving  of  notice,  that  I  will  not  prostitute  my 
pen  by  describing  them.     Many  young  officers  were  on  board 

that  vessel,   attached   to  the  naval  school,  for  whom  S r 

was  a  pretty  model ;  had  a  parent  known  his  son  in  such  a  den 
he  would  have  torn  him  from  it  as  from  the  flames.  You 
never  dreamed,  vain  drunkard,  that  when  you  were  uttering 
menaces  at  which  the  poor  creatures  under  you  trembled,  that 
there  was  one  there  who  would  hold  you  up  in  your  true  colors 
to  the  public,  w^iose  laws  you  have  violated,  and  whose  un- 
worthy servant  you  are.  Deny  not  a  word  I  have  said,  or  I 
will  brand  you  with  more,  and  produce  proofs,  if  you  raise 
your  voice  to  gainsay  me.  It  may  have  been  possible  that  the 
commodore  of  the  yard  was  ignorant  of  these  things,  but  he 
is  not  ignorant  of  the  law  which  declares  that  no  slave  or  per- 
son liable  to  be  sold  as  a  slave,  shall  be  borne  on  the  books  of 
any  vessel  of  the  U.  S.  navy,  and  he  knows  that  there  were 
slaves  on  board  the  Java,  that  their  masters  received  their  pay, 
and  that  slaves  are  employed  in  the  navy  yard  as  laborers,  to 
the  exclusion  of  white  people  and  free  persons  of  color.  From 
what  has  been  stated  it  will  appear  that  the  defect  is  not  so 
much  in  the  laws  as  in  the  abuse  of  them. 


133  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Flogging  seamen  in  the  navy  and  merchant  service — injury  there- 
from in  the  latter— difference  between  English  and  American  laws  re- 
specting seamen — want  of  redress  for  common  sailors  who  have  been 
maltreated  and  abused — whalers — their  w^ant  of  seamen — their  adver 
tisements — young  men's  prospects  who  ship  in  them — number  of  sea- 
men confined  in  Boston  jail  previous  to  the  15th  of  May,  1839,  and  for 
what  cause — crew  of  the  Shylock — their  wrongs,  trial,  acquittal,  and 
recovery  of  their  wages. 

Our  citizens  have  repeatedly  expressed  their  disapprobation 
of  corporeal  punishment  in  the  navy,  in  explicit  terms,  and 
several  plans  have  been  proposed  to  discontinue  it,  by  substitu- 
ting some  other  in  its  stead  less  degrading,  and  more  in  accord- 
ance with  the  principles  of  a  free  government.  For  this  kind 
of  punishment  in  the  navy  v^e  have  a  precedent  from  all  the 
maritime  powers  of  Europe  ;  yet  that  does  not  cause  our  citi- 
zens to  view  it  with  less  horror  and  disgust ;  but  for  punish- 
ment by  the  lash  in  the  merchant  service,  we  have  no  prece- 
dent whatever.  To  our  everlasting  disgrace  be  it  told,  that  we 
are  the  first  nation  in  the  world  that  have  authorized  the  mas- 
ters of  merchant  ships  to  enforce  obedience,  or  correct  seamen 
by  whipping  them  with  a  rope's  end,  and  we  should  blush  to 
confess  that  it  either  should  he  given  or  used.  Never  let 
American  citizens  in  the  northern  states  rail  at  slavery,  or  the 
punishment  inflicted  on  slaves,  or  say  that  it  is  wrong,  so  long 
as  their  own  sons,  their  own  flesh  and  blood,  their  own  seamen, 
their  own  free  citizens,  and  the  men  to  whom  they  look  for 
protection  in  case  of  w^ar,  are  daily  subject  to  the  same  treat- 
ment as  the  slaves,  whose  degraded  situation  in  the  southern 
states  calls  forth,  so  justly,  the  warmest  sensibilities  of  the 
heart  and  nature  of  philanthropists.  The  late  John  Randolph 
openly  declared,  in  the  legislative  halls  of  Congress,  that  he  had 
witnessed  more  flogging  on  board  the  vessel  of  war  that  carried 
him  to  Russia,  in  a  few  months,  than  had  taken  place  during 
ten  years  on  his  plantation,  where  there  were  five  hundred 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  129 

slaves.  This  was  asserted  in  the  presence  of  our  most  en- 
lightened statesmen,  without  any  motion  being  made  to  inquire 
into,  or  correct  the  abuse.  Oh,  Americans,  to  what  are  you 
coming !  the  blood  of  your  ancestors  is  turned  to  water  in  your 
veins.  Those  who  exclaim  loudest  against  slavery,  had  better 
turn  their  attention  to  objects  of  suffering  and  benevolence  at 
home,  before  they  look  for  them  abroad,  hundreds  of  whom 
will  be  found  to  stand  as  much  in  need  of  their  assistance, 
and  emancipation  from  the  yoke  of  tyranny  and  oppression,  as 
the  swarthy  sons  and  daughters  of  Africa.  At  present,  mas- 
ters of  merchant  vessels  are  vested  with  greater  authority  than 
the  magistrates  or  judges,  and  with  the  same  power  as  the 
negro  driver,  or  slaveholder,  who  has  so  often  been  stigmatized 
with  the  epithets  of  tyrants  and  brutes,  by  a  society  whose 
object  is  declared  to  be  equal  rights  and  privileges  to  all,  and 
yet  these  men  pass  by  the  seaman,  whom  they  daily  see  in 
the  streets,  and  who  is  liable  to,  and  often  receives  worse  treat- 
ment than  the  slave,  in  whose  behalf  so  many  petitions  have 
been  presented,  and  such  efforts  been  made  as  have  nearly 
turned  one  half  of  the  union  against  the  other  ;  if  such  men 
want  objects  of  compassion,  and  their  object  is  the  welfare  of 
mankind,  let  them  turn  to  the  common  seaman.  As  long  as 
this  suffering  class  are  permitted  to  remain  as  they  now  are, 
the  efforts  of  anti-slavery  societies  can  pass  for  nothing  more 
than  a  wish  on  their  part  to  join  in  the  cry  raised  by  individuals 
in  Great  Britain,  who  knew  as  little  of  slavery  as  their  breth- 
ren on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  '^  Those  who  live  in  glass 
houses  should  be  careful  how  they  throw  stones."  Those  who 
rail  at  negro  slavery  should  take  care  that  none  of  their  own 
servants  are  receiving  the  treatment  of  slaves. 

A  judge,  with  whose  abilities  and  qualifications  the  public 
are  well  acquainted,  and  who  has  risen  to  that  station  by  merit 
and  integrity,  has  not  the  power  delegated  to  him  that  the 
master  of  a  merchant  vessel  has  ;  the  former  are  men  of  probity 
and  honor,  the  latter,  in  many  cases,  are  destitute  of  either, 
and  very  often  ignorant  and  dissipated,  raised  from  the  very 
dregs  of  society,  often,  by  some  chance  rather  than  merit ;  a 
master  of  a  vessel  to-day,  and  by  the  word  from  an  owner. 


130  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

reduced  to  a  common  seaman  to-morrow ;  often  governed  by 
neither  humane  nor  moral  principles,  and  slaves  to  their  own 
passions ;  yet  they  have  greater  power  than  any  man  in  the 
United  States.  No  judge  can  order  a  lash  to  be  inflicted  on  a 
citizen  or  alien,  yet  the  master  of  a  merchant  vessel  can  be 
the  accuser,  the  judge,  and  the  executor  of  his  own  sentence  ; 
seize  to  the  rigging  and  flog  any  seaman  who  may  have,  even 
through  ignorance,  violated  any  of  his  orders  ;  that  person  may 
have  received  honorable  scars  in  defence  of  your  country  and 
rights,  and  yet  he  may  be  flogged  like  a  dog.  This  is  not  a 
law  that  sleeps  in  the  statute  book,  it  is  daily  put  in  force, 
under  a  flag  which  is  declared  to  be  the  emblem  of  liberty, 
It  has  cost  merchants  and  ship  owners  millions  of  dollars,  and 
citizens  their  lives.  And  it  fosters  mutiny,  revolt,  and  shipwreck. 
Thousands  of  our  citizens  are  not  aware  of  this  execrable  law, 
as  the  victims  of  it  cannot  make  known  their  sufferings ;  they 
hear  of  mutinies  and  rev^olts,  but  can  form  no  just  opinion  as 
to  the  cause.  Punishments  in  pursuance  of  this  law,  do  not 
take  place  in  our  harbors,  but  they  are  perpetrated  on  the  bosom 
of  the  wave,  or  in  foreign  ports,  and  reach  not  the  American 
public  ;  those  who  suffer  from  it  are  driven  on  shore,  in  nine 
cases  out  of  ten,  and  if  ever  they  reach  the  United  States  it 
may  be  too  late  to  seek  redress  ;  no  matter  how  severe  or 
unjust  their  sufferings  may  have  been,  the  perpetrator  is  gone 
to  commit  anew  fresh  outrages,  or  witnesses  to  prove  that  the 
punishment  was  unjust,  are  wanting,  and  the  poor  seaman  must 
suffer  his  wrongs  in  silence.  Where  is  the  parent  that  will 
suffer  his  son  to  go  to  sea  if  he  is  aware  of  the  existence  of 
such  a  law  ?  He  would  sooner  see  him  dead  at  his  feet 
than  liable  to  such  treatment.  Not  one  in  fifty  of  our  seamen 
are  aware  of  the  existence  of  a  law  which  authorizes  a  master 
of  a  vessel  to  flog  them ;  and  hence  arises  the  mutinies  and 
revolts  of  which  we  daily  read.  Seamen  know  that  they  are 
born  free,  and  freemen  will  never  submit  to  the  lash  of  slavery. 
Why  is  not  this  law  expressly  stated  in  a  ship's  printed  articles 
or  shipping  paper  ?  It  dare  not  be  done,  no  American  worthy 
of  the  name,  would  ever  affix  his  name  to  an  agreement  that 
would  vest  another  with  power  to  flog  him,  and  that  too  by 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  131 

men  of  no  character  or  standing,  and  governed  by  no  prin- 
ciple, but  their  own  caprice. 

It  is  admitted,  to  their  everlasting  disgrace,  that  in  England  / 
and  America,  seamen  are  treated  with  greater  brutality  than  inf 
any  other  country ;  but  in  this  respect  we  have  far  outstrippedi 
the  former  country.  The  government  of  Great  Britain  is  aris- 
tocratic and  ours  is  democratic,  but  the  former  has  never  vested 
the  masters  of  their  merchant  ships  with  power  to  flog  their 
seamen.  The  celebrated  East  India  company's  ships,  which 
vied  with  the  British  navy,  and  whose  officers  wore  uniforms 
and  were  descended  from  the  first  families  in  the  kingdom,  were 
never  vested  with  the  power  of  inflicting  punishment  by  the 
lash  on  the  seamen  in  their  employ  ;  they  applied  for  that 
authority  in  vain ;  there  was  spirit  and  freedom  enough  in  the 
British  senate  to  treat  the  application  with  scorn  and  contempt, 
yet  America,  which  declares  freedom  to  be  inseparable  from 
her  soil,  has  granted  what  an  aristocratic  government  withheld. 
The  East  India  company's  officers  did  flog  their  men,  but  were 
invariably  sued,  and  heavy  damages  recovered.  I  was  in 
London  in  1824,  when  a  seaman  received  two  hundred  and 
forty  pounds  sterling  as  damages  for  having  received  twenty- 
four  lashes  on  board  of  one  of  their  ships.  The  officers  well 
knew  that  if  sued  in  a  court  of  justice  heavy  damages  would 
be  recovered,  and  in  order  to  meet  this,  had  a  fund  to  which 
every  one  subscribed  a  certain  sum,  and  from  this  fund  the 
damages  were  paid.  In  London  the  doctors  commons  are 
ever  ready  to  take  up  such  prosecutions,  but  in  our  country, 
when  a  seaman  comes  home,  unless  he  has  money,  he  cannot 
get  a  suit  entered  against  the  wretch  who  has  abused  him  and 
trampled  on  his  rights,  even  if  he  should  have  the  witnesses 
to  prove  that  the  punishment  he  received  was  severer  than  the 
offence  required ;  and  of  this  fact  masters  of  merchant  vessels 
are  well  aw^are.  In  the  English  merchant  service  such  a  thing 
as  flogging  is  unknown,  a  master  of  a  vessel  dare  not  attempt 
it.  There  was  a  villain  who  had  command  of  a  merchant 
vessel  out  of  Greenock,  who  committed  some  offence  of  the 
kind,  some  years  ago ;  the  crew  rose  and  deprived  him  of  the 
command,  confined  him  in  the  main  top,  night  and  day,  until 


132  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    TKH 

the  vessel  arrived  home,  and  when  the  case  was  tried,  he  was^ 
in  addition  to  a  heavy  fine,  declared  to  be  incapable  of  com- 
mand, and  ordered  by  Lloyd's  agents  never  to  seek  employ- 
ment as  master  of  a  vessel  again.  He  goes  by  the  cognomen 
of  streakum  strokum.  I  have  seen  him,  and  so  have  most 
seamen  who  have  been  in  Greenock  or  port  Glasgow,  for  he  is 
pointed  out  by  all  who  know  him  ;  but  in  the  United  States  a 
man  who  has  cut  the  skin  from  the  back  of  a  seaman,  will 
strut  about  without  considering  that  he  has  been  guilty  of  any 
crime.  In  the  navy,  the  case  is  different,  although  a  wrong  ; 
for  where  there  are  so  many  men,  of  so  many  diiferent  dispo- 
sitions confined  together  as  there  is  on  board  of  a  vessel  of  war, 
punishment  becomes  indispensibly  necessary  in  order  to  ensure 
obedience  and  respect.  On  the  organization  of  the  navy  this 
was  duly  considered,  and  power  was  delegated  to  commanders 
to  inflict  corporeal  punishment  to  a  certain  extent;  but  this 
extent  has  been  exceeded,  as  has  been  shown,  and  the  law 
which  limits  punishment  has  been  but  too  often  violated  by 
those  entrusted  with  their  administration.  There  is  a  prece- 
dent for  flogging  in  the  navy,  but  in  the  merchant  service  there 
is  none,  nor  does  the  law  specify  to  what  extent  a  man  may 
be  punished  in  the  latter,  further  than  vesting  the  master  with 
power  to  correct  according  to  the  oiFence.  In  the  navy  the 
officers  are  men  of  education,  and  gentlemen,  (with  very  few 
exceptions,)  they  rise  gradually,  and  serve  many  years  before 
they  get  command,  or  are  vested  by  law  with  authority  to  flog 
a  seaman  ;  and  when  this  is  done  it  is  generally  after  due  in- 
vestigation in  the  presence  of  the  whole  crew  and  officers,  and 
when  this  is  not  the  case,  a  violation  of  the  law  is  committed. 
Moreover  the  captains  in  our  navy,  who  alone  are  vested  with 
this  authority,  are  public  officers,  and  men  of  character  and 
standing,  and  who  have  a  commission  at  stake,  independent 
of  the  value  which  they  must  ever  place  on  public  opinion  ; 
they  are  always  to  be  found,  and  redress  may  be  obtained  for 
any  undue  stretch  of  authority  of  which  they  may  be  guilty, 
by  application  to  the  proper  authority  ;  or  an  appeal  can  be 
made  to  the  people  through  the  medium  of  the  public  press, 
that  great  palladium  of  a  free  people.     In  a  merchant  vessel 


naVal  and  merchant  service.  133 

it  is  entirely  different,  the  masters  of  them  often  find  character 
unnecessary  to  carry  to  sea,  but  leave  it  on  shore,  to  answer 
their  turn  in  the  presence  of  their  owners,  and  proper  redress 
for  an  injury  from  them  is  not  to  be  expected.  Where  w^ould 
the  use  be  in  publishing  a  Captain  Smith,  or  Brown  1  there 
are  too  many  such  names  afloat  to  attract  any  notice  ;  but  not 
so  with  a  Commodore  Hull,  or  Downes,  although  I  know  that 
the  name  of  these  gallant  officers  will  never  be  used  in  such  a 
case  ;  but  w^ere  such  a  thing  to  take  place,  the  public  would 
know,  from  one  end  of  the  union  to  the  other,  w^ho  were  allu- 
ded to ;  not  so  with  the  petty  master  of  a  merchant  vessel. 
Were  masters  of  merchant  vessels  amenable  and  liable,  like 
captains  in  the  navy,  the  evil  of  entrusting  them  with  such 
authority  would  not  be  so  great,  nor  so  likely  to  be  abused  ; 
but  in  both  cases  it  is  unnecessary,  and  sometimes  abused  in 
both,  although  seldom  in  the  latter.  The  masters  of  merchant 
vessels  have  not  that  education  or  refinement  which  are  so 
necessary  to  the  character •  of  a  gentleman  or  one  who  com- 
mands; but  I  do  not  intend  this  impeachment  to  apply  to  all 
mastersof  merchant  vessels.  There  are  very  few  crying  evils  of 
a  public  nature  without  some  honorable  exceptions  to  redeem 
in  part  the  obloquy  attached  to  many  of  them,  and  I  have  much 
pleasure  in  stating,  from  personal  knowledge  and  other  sources 
entitled  to  the  most  implicit  confidence,  that  there  are  many 
masters  of  vessels  what  they  ought  to  be,  and  in  vessels  under 
their  command,  difficulties  with  seamen  never  occur;  were  this 
the  case  in  all,  there  would  be  no  necessity  for  advertisements 
such  as  the  following,  from  the  New  York  Sun  of  June  14th, 
1839: 

'^Wanted  immediately,  one  hundred  enterprising  young  men, 
Americans,  to  go  on  whaling  voyages,  in  first  rate  ships.  Car- 
penters, coopers,  and  blacksmiths  also  wanted,  to  whom  extra 
pay  will  be  given.  The  present  is  a  very  desirable  opportu- 
nity for  those  that  wish  to  take  a  voyage  to  sea  to  learn  navi- 
gation or  nautical  improvement.  All  clothing  and  other 
necessary  articles  furnished  on  credit.  Apply  to  S.  &  J.  N. 
Luckey,  106  South  street,  up  stairs." 

"  Wanted,  thirty  men  for  the  three  ships  at  New  Bedford, 
12 


134  EVILS  AND  ABUSES  IN  THE 

twenty-five  men  for  two  ships  at  Falrhaven,  twelve  men  for  a 
ship  at  New  London,  ten  men  for  a  ship  at  Sag  Harbor.  By- 
applying  immediately  at  Thomas  Lewis's  clothing  store.  No.  15 
James  Slip,  they  can  have  their  choice  of  ships  and  places.  All 
clothing  furnished  on  credit."  This  is  like  the  secretary  of  the 
navy  sending  to  ship  men  for  the  navy  in  the  back  woods  and 
declaring  to  Congress  that  the  "  navy  was  popular  with  sea- 
menJ^  It  is  well  known  that  whale  ships  are  very  carefully 
shunned  by  all  seamen  who  have  ever  sailed  in  them  before, 
not  so  muQh  on  account  of  the  swindling  system  usually  practised 
in  them,  as  the  bad  treatment  that  they  receive  from  their  com- 
manders, who  are  beyond  the  reach  of  the  law  for  two  or  three 
years,  and  who  by  a  system  of  tyranny  and  oppression  very 
often  drive  the  men  to  some  indiscreet  act,  for  which  they  on 
their  return  to  the  United  States,  incarcerate  them  in  a  prison, 
on  some  false  oath  or  spurious  statement,  and  pay  them  for  their 
hardships  and  privations,  by  imprisoning  them  in  a  county  jail. 
When  these  things  are  known,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  that 
they  are  forced  to  send  to  ports  where  seamen  are  ignorant  of 
these  atrocities,  in  order  to  procure  crews  to  man  them.  If  I 
know  any  trade  that  is  likely  to  ruin  a  young  man,  and  render 
him  worthless  as  a  seaman  for  ever  after,  it  is  a  whaling  voy- 
age ;  there  they  learn  nothing  but  to  kill  and  take  care  of 
whales,  and  try  blubber.  Their  superiors  who  ought  to  in- 
struct them  in  their  profession  are  as  ignorant  as  themselves. 
They  have  no  idea  that  there  is  any  other  science  in  the 
world,  save  that  of  taking  care  of  a  whale,  and  believe  that;, 
the  summit  of  human  greatness,  and  that  no  business  carried  on 
is  so  likely  to  enlighttn  the  world  as  whaling  and  breaking 
black  skin.  So  that  the  enterprising  young  men  advertised  for, 
have  only  to  grease  themselves  up  to  the  neck  in  sperm  oil, 
and  thereby  slip  into  a  sailor's  shoes.  But  the  chances  are, 
that  ere  they  return,  the  masters,  or  captains,  as  they  are  term- 
ed by  courtesy,  may  break  their  skin  as  well  as  grease  it. 
However  that  is  immaterial,  and  a  young;  man,  unless  he  in- 
tends to  pass  his  days  in  a  state  of  single  blessedness,  must  dart 
a  harpoon  into  something  of  the  whale  kind,  and  bedaub  him- 
self with  head  matter,  ere  Cupid's  dart  will  have  any  effect  on 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  135 

the  girls  about  a  whaling  port.  So  ir.y  young  men,  go  an  He- 
ing  for  one  voyage,  and  my  word  on  it  you  will  be  sufficiently 
amused.  It  has  been  ascertained  that  young  seamen  about 
Boston  can  no  longer  be  deceived  by  the  hundrelh  and  seventieth 
lay  for  a  whaling  voyage  ;  and  necessity  compels  them  to  send 
to  New  York  and  pay  the  expense  of  transporting  them  to 
New  Bedford,  Fairhaven,  &.c.  Were  seamen  properly  treated 
out  of  those  ports,  the  risk  and  danger  of  a  whaling  voyage 
would  not  be  taken  into  consideration  by  them  ;  but  so  long  as 
they  see  numbers  incarcerated  in  the  county  jail  after  their  re- 
turn from  a  long  voyage,  instead  of  being  paid  their  wages, 
it  is  not  to  be  expected  they  will  run  headlong  on  to  the  weapon 
that  has  destroyed  others.  Before  I  proceed  to  detail  other 
circumstances,  I  would  remark,  and  advise  the  public  to  judge 
for  itself,  whether  or  not  it  does  not  appear  singular  that  the  re- 
volts of  which  seamen  are  accused  (and  for  which  many  of 
them  have  lately  been  imprisoned  in  the  county  jail  in  Boston) 
always  happen  on  the  homeward-bound  passage,  after  the  ves- 
sels leave  the  Pacific,  or  the  whaling  grounds,  for  the  U.  States. 
This  circumstance  alone  would  induce  us  to  suspect  that  the 
difficulties  which  occur,  are  brought  on  by  the  conduct  of  the 
master,  who  by  trumping  up  a  charge  of  revolt,  is  enabled  to 
keep  from  the  poor  fellows  the  share  of  the  oil  which  they  have 
ventured  life  and  limb  to  obtain.  Seamen  who  have  suffered 
for  a  long  voyage  would  not  wantonly  commit  any  act  which 
would  exclude  them  from  its  benefit.  The  fate  of  the  officers 
of  the  Globe,  is  beginning  to  be  an  old  tale,  and  it  is  to  be 
hoped  for  the  credit  of  the  country,  that  it  will  be  long  ere 
such  another  tragedy  is  acted.  Previous  to  the  15th  of  May, 
there  was  no  less  than  eighteen  seamen  in  the  Suffolk  county  jail, 
either  as  principals  or  witnesses  against  those  who  were  guilty 
of  a  A^iolation  of  the  laws,  by  abusing  the  authority  vested  in 
them.  And  on  their  trials  enough  was  elicited  to  prove  to  the 
public  beyond  a  doubt,  that  some  measures  ought  to  be  taken 
to  correct  an  evil  of  such  an  alarming  nature.  The  sum  that 
these  prosecutions  cost  the  government  in  this  state  alone,  with- 
in the  last  six  months,  did  not  fall  short  of,  but  perhaps  ex^- 
ceeded,  two  thousand  dollars.     I  have  seen  a  journal  written  on 


136  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

board  of  the  Shylock ;  seven  of  her  crew  were  confined  from 
the  14th  of  Dec.  1838,  to  the  20th  of  May,  1839,  and  1  feel 
perfectly  satisfied  that  there  was  the  greatest  injustice  done  those 
men  by  the  master,  Tabor ;  and  the  mate,  Slott ;  if  the  alleg- 
gations  against  the  latter  were  founded  on  fact,  he  ought  to  be 
hooted  from  society.  Many  men  were  ready  to  assert  upon 
oath  that  he  had  attempted  the  commission  of  a  crime,  so  un- 
natural that  decency  shudders  at  the  thought  of  it.  These 
men  were  accused  of  attempting  a  revolt,  but  as  the  vessel  had 
only  a  register  and  no  license,  the  court  had  no  pov/er  to  take 
cognisance  of  the  affair.  But  it  appeared  that  the  master, 
Tabor,  after  continuing  a  system  of  tyranny  during  the  voyage, 
on  the  passage  home  was  going  to  put  one  of  the  crew  in  irons, 
and  on  this  part  of  the  performance  the  crew  remonstrated,  and 
begged  to  be  heard  on  a  complaint  that  they  had  against  the 
mate,  but  no  hearing  would  be  granted  them  ;  and  they  refused 
to  do  duty.  I  am  far  from  attempting  to  prove  that  by  so 
doing  they  were  right,  on  the  contrary,  they  were  wrong ;  for 
the  master  confining  one  man  did  not  justifiy  them  in  refusing 
to  do  their  duty  ;  but  they  erred  from  ignorance  and  not  from 
any  predisposition  to  revolt  against  any  lawful  authority.  They 
were  not  justifiable  in  making  themselves  a  party  to  the  quar- 
rels of  another,  but  seamen  often  err  in  this  manner.  The 
moment  they  refused  to  do  duty  they  were  driven  below  and 
secured  there,  the  master  openly  avowing  that  he  was  glad  of 
it,  as  by  that  means  he  would  save  his  provisions  ;  and  until 
their  arrival  in  the  United  States  they  were  fed  upon  a  scanty 
allowance  of  bread  and  water.  When  the  vessel  arrived  they 
were  delivered  over  to  the  marshal,  charged  with  revolt.  Now 
refusing  to  do  duty  is  not  a  revolt,  but  is  an  ofl^ence  punishable 
by  loss  of  wages  and  confiscation  of  clothing.  I  do  not  mean 
to  discuss  a  point  of  law,  but  am  governed  by  the  decision 
given  by  a  jwdge  in  New  York,  some  years  ago,  to  that  effect. 
When  these  men  were  set  at  liberty,  they  immediately  sued 
for  their  wages,  and  Tabor  having  perceived  that  there  wei^ 
some  individuals  interested  in  their  behalf,  who  would  assist 
them  to  claim  justice,  a  lawyer  was  sent  on  to  pay  them  their 
wages.     Nov^^  Tstbor  well  knew  that  if  he  had  jusi  grounds  of 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  137 

complaint  against  these  men,  that  they  had  forfeited  their  wages, 
but  he  saw  that,  backed  as  they  were  by  two  gentlemen  of  the 
bar,  some  facts  would  be  brought  to  light  which  would  have 
placed  him  in  a  very  unenviable  light ;  so  he  paid  the  wages 
and  expenses,  and  they  pocketed  the  six  month's  confinement, 
which  was  no  hardship,  after  having  served  with  him  and  lived 
two  months  on  bread  and  water. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

Crew  of  the  Halcyon  as  witnesses  against  the  mate — his  conviction 
and  paltry  punishment — crew  of  the  Octavia  liberated  without  trial — 
crew  of  the  Orientis  imprisoned  in  Pernambuco — their  treatment — 
two  of  them  sent  on  board  the  Effort — one  of  them  maltreated,  carried 
on  shore  and  left — the  treatment  of  the  other — Captain  Nichols  and 
Wm.  Couch  found  guilty  of  cruelty  resulting  in  death — Judge  Story's 
sentence — article  from  the  Boston  Morning  Post. 

Three  of  the  crew  of  the  Halcyon  were  confined  as  wit- 
nesses against  the  mate,  (who  was  a  foreigner,)  from  the  23rd 
of  November,  1838,  to  the  20th  of  May,  1839,  at  an  expense 
to  the  government  of  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  per  day, 
exclusive  of  board.  The  mate,  when  in  Trieste,  had  a  quarrel 
with  one  of  the  crew,  and  struck  him  with  his  fist ;  finding 
himself  likely  to  succeed  but  very  little  to  his  satisfaction  by 
that  means,  he  applied  to  the  master  to  flog  the  man,  w^hich, 
however,  the  master  refused  to  do.  This  did  not  appease  the 
mate's  vindictive  feelings,  and  in  order  to  obtain  revenge  he  sent 
the  man  down  below,  into  the  half  deck,  to  look  for  a  spun- 
yarn  winch,  and  while  there,  beat  him  with  a  billet  of  wood 
until  his  cries  brought  the  crew  to  his  assistance.  The  blows 
that  were  inflicted  fractured  the  man's  arm,  broke  the  sheath 
knife  by  his  side,  and  otherwise  injured  him  so  much  that  he 
fainted  when  carried  on  deck.  Thus  by  the  brutality  of  a 
person  who  in  all  probability  is  serving  under  a  false  protection, 
and  w^ho  never  was,  by  right,  entitled  to  an  officer's  situation 
on  board  of  an  American  vessel,  the  government  was  put  to 
12* 


138  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

an  expense  of  several  hundred  dollars,  to  prosecute  a  foreigner. 
And  after  being  convicted,  his  punishment  was  so  trifling  as  to 
exceed  belief;  he  was,  if  I  am  correctly  informed,  fined  one 
hundred  dollars  and  sentenced  to  ninety  days  imprisonment. 
The  fdur  men  of  the  Oetavia  were  liberated,  as  there  was 
no  statute  to  convict  them  on,  as  the  ship  was  not  licensed^ 
One  man  of  the  Orientis,  for  mutiny  or  revolt,  was  sent  home 
in  the  barque  Effort  from  Pernambuco  ;  his  journal  of  the 
cause  of  the  disturbance  I  also  saw,  and  after  making  every 
allowance  for  the  feelings  under  which  it  was  written,  1  have 
rarely  read  an  account  of  greater  tyranny  and  oppression.  Be- 
fore the  arrival  of  the  vessel  in  Pernambuco,  the  mate  had 
maltreated  some  of  the  crew,  the  master  took  his  part,  and 
stabbed  two  of  them  with  a  sword ;  this,  however,  was  passed 
over.  After  the  arrival  of  the  vessel  the  master  fell  into  the 
hold  of  another  vessel,  while  drunk,  and  was  left  on  board  that 
vessel,  until  his  own  ship  was  nearly  ready  for  sea.  Some  of 
the  crew  were  allowed  to  go  on  liberty,  and  when  they  returned 
the  mate  beat  one  or  two  of  them,  for  some  alleged  cause  or 
other,  and  the  rest  refused  to  go  to  sea  in  the  vessel  unless 
some  guarantee  was  given  them  that  they  should  not  be  subject 
to  similar  treatment.  The  vessel  was  ready  for  sea,  but  they 
would  not  w^eigh  the  anchor.  Some  other  masters  of  vessels 
came  on  board  and  used  threats,  but  in  vain ;  they  were  re- 
solved, and  soldiers  were  sent  for  and  the  whole  of  them  lodged 
in  jail,  where  they  remained.  The  vessel  went  to  sea,  which 
carried  their  whole  stock  of  clothing  with  her,  except  what 
they  had  on.  During  the  whole  of  this  time  the  consul, 
w^iose  duty  it  was  to  have  investigated  the  affair,  never  visited 
them,  but  kept  them  confined  in  a  loathsome  prison,  without 
wholesome  food  or  fresh  air,  until  they  became  covered  with 
rags  and  vermin.  The  merchant  vessels  which  had  supplied 
their  vessel  with  a  crew  now  wanted  hands,  and  all  of  them 
except  two  entered  on  board  of  them,  in  order  to  escape  actual 
starvation  and  the  gloom  of  a  prison.  These  two  were  con- 
fined for  a  long  time,  until  they  became  emaciated  and  worn 
out  from  sickness  and  suffering.  At  length  the  consul's  clerk 
informed  them  that  they  were  to  be  sent  home  in  the  Effort^ 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  139 

and  as  they  were  destitute  of  clothing,  a  shirt  and  pair  of 
trowsers  were  given  to  each,  and  they  were  carried  on  hoard 
the  Effort  to  make  a  passage  to  the  United  States,  sick  and 
without  clothing,  in  the  winter  season.  When  they  were  de- 
livered to  the  master  of  the  Effort,  he  maltreated  them  in  a 
shocking  manner,  hy  beating  and  kicking  those,  over  whom  he 
had  no  control  except  as  prisoners.  One  of  them  fainted 
from  the  effects  of  his  brutality,  and  was  carried  on  shore 
again,  to  die  in  prison  and  find  a  grave  in  a  foreign  land,  among 
strangers,  far  from  his  country  and  friends,  and  far  from  those 
whose  care  and  attention  would  have  softened  the  pangs  of 
death.  The  one  that  was  brought  home,  was  suffered  to  go  at 
liberty,  on  his  arrival  in  Boston  ;  but  in  a  few  days  the  master 
of  the  Effort  induced  his  landlord  to  bring  him  in  a  carriage 
to  his  lodgings,  where  he  was  tied  with  cords  and  kept  until  he 
was  delivered  up  to  the  civil  authorities.  When  he  was  laying 
thus  bound,  the  master  of  the  Effort  used  threats  and  menaces 
to  prevent  his  making  any  unfavorable  representation  respect- 
ing him  when  examined  at  the  police  court,  as  he  said  "  it 
would  do  no  good,  and  get  him  (the  master)  into  a  scrape." 
The  man,  however  did  make  a  complaint,  and  the  master  was 
suffered  to  go  on  bail  in  the  sum  of  one  hundred  dollars.  The 
sailor,  after  all  his  sufferings,  was  locked  up  in  jail ;  but  an 
American  prison  was  a  paradise  in  comparison  with  the  one 
he  had  left.  What  his  sentence  was,  or  the  result  of  his  trial, 
I  have  not  heard.  1  presume  the  advocates  of  tyranny  will 
look  in  vain  for  the  law  by  which  the  master  of  the  Effort 
acted,  when  he  beat  and  maltreated  a  prisoner  committed  to 
his  charge  by  the  consul;  and  the  master  of  the  Effort  daring 
to  tie  a  seaman  and  throw  him  upon  the  floor  of  his  room  in 
the  city  of  Boston,  after  having  suffered  that  man  to  go  at 
liberty  on  his  arrival,  may  serve  to  give  the  public  some  idea 
of  what  such  a  man  would  do  entrusted  with  authority,  when 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  civil  law. 

The  manner  in  which  the  consul  acted  towards  this  crew  is  in 
unison  with  the  treatment  that  seamen  receive  at  the  hands  of  • 
consuls  generally.     Had  be  reasoned  with  these  men,  and  in- 
vestigated the  cause  of  their  grievances^  he  could  no  doubt 


14Q  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

have  induced  them  to  proceed  on  their  voyage.  But  as  the 
master  of  their  vessel  said,  '^  the  consul  loved  his  bottle  better 
than  his  business,"  and  he  was  in  consequence  allowed  to  leave 
the  men  in  jail,  without  their  clothing  and  wages,  with  no 
proof  of  insubordination  or  revolt  against  them  but  his  own 
statement.  How  long  consuls  are  to  be  the  puppets  that  they 
are  in  the  hands  of  masters  of  vessels.  Congress  must  deter- 
mine ;  at  present  their  whole  dependence  for  a  salary  rests 
with  masters  of  merchant  vessels,  and  they  of  course  will  do 
nothing  to  disoblige  their  employers.  The  poor  seamen  do 
not  contribute  to  support  consuls,  and  why  should  they  take 
any  interest  in  their  welfare  ? 

Last,  not  least,  comes  the  crew  of  the  ship  Caravan  against 
the  master,  Nichols^  and  the  mate,  for  cruelty  resulting  in  death. 
The  ship  Caravan,  while  in  Liverpool,  shipped  several  men  ; 
among  them  the  deceased,  Henry  Burr,  who  had  shipped  as 
cook,  and  after  the  ship  had  got  to  sea  it  was  found  that  he 
could  not  perform  his  duty  as  cook,  and  another  was  put  in  his 
place  in  the  galley,  and  he  was  turned  forward.  Not  being  a 
seaman,  he  was  employed  in  cleaning  after  the  pigs,  and  other 
menial  duties,  and  repeatedly  beaten  by  the  master  and  mate 
with  their  fists  and  a  rope's  end.  Finding  that  these  instru- 
ments did  not  inflict  a  sufficient  degree  of  pain,  they  invented 
a  torture  w^orthy  of  the  inquisition,  which  was  by  affixing  a 
sail  needle  in  a  bamboo  cane  and  pricking  him  with  it  in  the 
legs  and  body  until  he  became  a  mass  of  punctures  and  swell- 
ings. The  day  previous  to  his  death  he  was  beat  with  a  rope's 
end  by  the  mate,  who  knocked  him  down  and  jumped  upon 
him  whh  his  feet.  The  man  was  covered  with  blood,  and 
nearly  choaked  with  it,  and  his  mouth  was  cleaned  and  washed 
by  one  of  the  seamen.  Subsequent  to  this  the  master,  Nichols, 
ordered  him  to  be  brought  on  deck — he  was  carried  to  the 
quarter  deck  and  seated  on  a  spar — the  master  gave  him  some 
medicine,  and  he  was  kept  on  deck  the  whole  day,  although 
the  weather  was  cold  and  rainy.  In  the  evening,  having 
fallen  into  a  state  of  insensibility  upon  deck,  he  was  lowered 
into  the  forecastle,  placed  in  a  wet  berth,  and  the  next  morn- 
ing he  was  dead.     On  the  trial  no  mitigating  circumstances 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  141 

were  brought  forward.  The  attorney  for  Nichols  alledged  that 
pricking  with  a  sail  needle  was  not  a  cruel  punishment,  but  his 
sophistry  was  cut  to  pieces  by  the  judge  in  his  charge  to 
the  jury,  who  brought  in  a  verdict  of  guilty  against  Nichols 
and  the  mate,  but  recommended  the  latter  to  mercy,  being 
subject  to  Nichols'  orders.  Here  was  one  of  the  most  cold 
blooded  acts  of  cruelty  that  could  be  perpetrated.  How  often 
have  our  citizens  expressed  their  horror  at  hearing  of  the 
Spanish  bull-bating,  but  here  an  individual,  under  their  own 
laws,  was  guilty  of  the  same  inhumanity  to  a  human  bein^; 
that  the  Matadores  inflict  upon  the  bull ;  and  his  cruelty  was 
even  more  refined  ;  the  pikes  with  which  the  Spaniards  goad 
their  bulls  are  not  sharp  pointed,  but  here  a  sail  needle  is  used 
in  the  same  manner  upon  a  man,  who  has  not  the  hide  of  a 
bull  to  protect  him.  A  wound  from  a  sail  needle  is  extremely 
painful,  as  every  sailmaker  and  seaman  can  testify,  and  an 
incision  made  with  it  is  a  more  excruciating  pain  than  a  simi- 
lar wound  would  occasion  if  made  with  any  sharp  round  in- 
strument. Whether  this  is  owing  to  its  being  three  square  or 
not  I  cannot  tell,  but  am  well  convinced,  from  experience,  of 
the  fact.  Although  I  never  had  the  master  of  a  vessel  amuse 
himself  pricking  me  with  one,  I  have  often  pricked  myself 
when  mending  sails  or  covering  straps. 

If  the  man  had  shipped  to  perform  a  duty  that  he  was  in- 
capable of,  the  law  points  out  a  punishment,  without  leaving  it 
to  the  discretion  of  the  master,  who  may  have  been  im- 
posed upon  in  that  manner.  But  the  question  will  naturally 
arise,  what  became  of  the  Americans  that  took  the  ship  to 
Liverpool,  how  they  came  to  leave  her  there,  by  which  means 
others  had  to  be  shipped?  When  the  Caravan  left  the  United 
States  two-thirds  of  her  crew  must  have  been  American  citi- 
zens, and  if  they  were  such,  they  could  not  be  discharged  in 
a  foreign  port,  unless  three  month's  extra  pay  was  paid  into 
the  consul's  hands,  for  each  man  so  discharged.  If  these  men 
deserted,  what  was  their  reason  for  doing  so?  It  is  very  seU 
dom  that  an  American  seaman  will  run  away  from  his  ship  in 
a  British  port  unless  he  has  been  badly  treated ;  if  two-thirds 
of  her  former  grew  were  not  American  citizens,  then  is  Nichols 


142  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

a  perjured  man,  for  he  must  have  sworn  at  the  custom- 
house, previous  to  his  clearing  out,  that  to  the  best  of  his 
knowledge,  such  was  the  case.  But  it  appears  from  the  whole, 
that  Nichols  is  unworthy  of  command,  and  that  he  has  acted 
in  so  barbarous  a  manner  that  he  strongly  calls  to  our  remem- 
brance the  Roman  amphitheatre, — the  arena  and  gladiators. 
The  mate  was  recommneded  to  mercy.  In  this  case  the  jury 
were  too  lenient ;  the  mate  was  subject  to  the  orders  of  Nichols, 
but  he  must  have  known  that  if  ordered  to  maltreat  a  man, 
that  that  order  was  unlawful.  And  it  appeared  that  he 
jumped  upon  the  man's  breast,  while  he  was  lying  upon  the 
deck,  from  malignity  and  wanton  depravity  of  disposition,  and 
not  from  any  orders  that  he  had  received. 

It  so  seldom  happens  that  masters  of  vessels  are  prosecuted 
to  conviction  for  the  outrages  committed  on  seamen,  that  the 
public  were  led  to  expect  that  a  heavy  punishment  would  be 
the  penalty  in  this  case, — as  the  outrage  was  so  atrocious,  and 
no  mitigating  circumstances  connected  with  the  affair,  the 
offender  would  be  sentenced  to  the  extent  of  the  law,  as  a 
warning  to  others :  but  their  expectations  were  not  realized. 
Nichols  was,  as  Judge  Story  said,  a  young  man,  and  was  sen- 
tenced to  ninety  days  imprisonment,  and  to  pay  a  fine  of  one 
hundred  dollars;  the  mate,  to  pay  a  fine  of  ten  dollars,  and 
thirty  days  imprisonment.  The  outrage  on  the  rights  of  the 
people,  in  the  lenity  of  the  sentence,  can  only  be  equalled  by 
the  enormity  of  the  crime.  Can  Judge  Story  lay  one  hand 
upon  his  heart,  the  other  on  the  Bible,  and  look  to  the  throne 
of  heaven  and  declare  that  he  faithfully  discharged  his  duty  as 
an  administrator  of  the  law,  and  that  he  verily  believes  the 
sentence  was  commensurate  with  the  offence  ?  If  so,  his  lack 
of  judgment  renders  him  unfit  for  a  seat  at  a  judicial  tribunal, 
and  he  ought  to  be  hurled  from  the  bench,  as  utterly  inade- 
quate to  a  discharge  of  the  duties  assigned  him.  I  would  ask 
him  if  there  was  no  motive  but  commisseration  for  the  youth  of 
the  criminal,  that  actuated  him  ?  Was  there  no  application 
made  to  him  beforehand,  in  behalf  of  the  prisoner,  by  wealthy 
relatives  or  friends  ?  If  not,  he  has  brought  himself,  and  the 
bench  at  which  he  presides,  into  the  most  ineffable  contempt, 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVlCli.  143 

from  no  motive  but  excess  of  generosity.  The  man  who  has 
so  much  of  the  milk  of  human  kindness  in  his  veins  that  he 
cannot  decide  for  the  good  of  the  pubhc,  in  opposition  to  his 
own  feelings,  is  unworthy  of  his  place.  *'  Out  of  thine  own 
mouth  will  1  condemn  thee,"  thou  wicked  one.  Hear  what 
Joseph  Story,  L.  L.  D.,  in  the  Constitutional  Class  Book,  says  ; 
"  Without  justice  being  fully,  freely,  and  impartially  adminis- 
tered, neither  our  persons,  nor  our  rights,  nor  our  property,  can 
be  protected.  Call  the  form  of  government  whatever  you  may, 
if  justice  cannot  be  equally  obtained  by  all  classes  of  our  citi- 
zens, bigb  and  low,  rich  and  poor,  it  is  a  mere  despotism." 
Now  we  see  how  far  the  precept,  inculcated  by  Judge  Story,  is  in 
accordance  with  the  example  of  the  law  which  he  pretends  to 
follow.  Had  a  common  seaman  stood  in  the  place  of  Nichols, 
what  would  his  sentence  have  been  ?  Would  Judge  Story 
have  considered  his  youth  as  an  extenuation  of  his  crime  ? 
No.  He  would  have  used  that  against  him,  as  evincing  the 
tyranny  of  his  disposition,  and  have  sent  him  to  eat  the  bitter 
bread  of  punishment  within  the  walls  of  the  state  prison,  which 
he  would  have  deserved.  He  would  have  availed  himself  of 
the  occasion,  mounted  his  hobby,  (incessant  talk)  and  read  a 
long  lecture  to  the  criminal  and  the  audience,  on  the  depravity, 
ignorance,  degradation,  and  vicious  habits  of  seamen;  he  would 
have  held  them  up  as  monsters  in  human  shape ;  but  the  young 
Captain  Nichols  stood  at  the  bar,  'who  happened  to  have  a 
father  who  was  born  before  him,  worth  thousands,  which  ma- 
terially altered  the  case.  How  horrible  it  would  have  been  to 
have  sent  him  to  the  state  prison !  him  who  had  been  used  to 
luxury,  to  tear  him  from  the  arms  of  his  affectionate  family, 
and  incarcerate  him  in  a  dungeon,  like  one  of  the  common 
herd,  would  be  monstrous.  It  is  the  first  time  that  I  have 
ever  known  youth  to  be  received  as  a  mitigation  of  such  an 
offence  ;  on  the  contrary,  youth  acts  on  the  other  scale  of  the 
balance,  and  the  decisions  of  our  courts  of  justice  prove  it,  as 
at  the  May  term  of  the  municipal  court,  Richard  Stanwood,  a 
boy,  was  convicted  of  stealing  eight  dollars  from  the  desk  of 
Hiram  Wellington,  Esq.,  and  he  was  sentenced  to  the  house  of 
correction  for  three  years  ;  but  the  mild,  gentle^  young  Cap- 


144  EVILS   Ai^D    ABUSES    i^   triM 

tain  Nichols,  who  had  been  accessary  to  a  man's  death,  by 
foul  means,  was  let  off  with  three  months.  Can  the  public 
look  upon  such  an  act  without  horror?  I  solemnly  declare 
that  if  it  was  my  kst  breath  1  would  spend  it  in  declaring  that 
1  detest  men  who  can  have  the  face  to  commit  such  flagrant 
breaches  of  their  trust  before  the  eye  of  an  enlightened  public. 
Had  an  American  read  such  an  account  in  Capt.  Hall's  or 
Mrs.  Trollope's  works  on  America,  they  would  have  declared 
that  it  was  a  caricature  on  the  judicial  character  of  their  coun- 
try. This  is  not  the  extent  of  the  lenity  shown,  however,  for 
Judge  Story  very  kindly  softened  the  sentence  which  he  had 
passed  (to  please  those  who  might  have  found  fault  if  not  pun- 
ished at  all)  by  allowing  him  a  choice  of  jails,  so  that  Nichols 
went  down  where  he  belonged,  and  where  he  had  influential 
relatives,  and  passed  his  three  month's  confinement  in  the  com- 
pany of  friends,  surrounded  by  every  luxury  that  the  taste  of 
young  gentleman  could  wish.  Had  Nichols  been  a  man  who 
had  long  held  the  command  of  a  vessel,  he  might  have  become 
so  accustomed  to  obedience  from  those  around  him,  so  habitu- 
ated to  command,  that  when  he  was  in  any  way  opposed,  he 
would  be  likely  to  resort  to  harsh  measures  ;  but  here  the 
reverse  is  the  case,  he  is  a  young,  depraved,  tyrannical  man, 
and  in  three  months  is  set  at  liberty  to  commit  anew  similar 
offences.  Next  time,  however,  he  may  do  those  acts  in  for- 
eign countries,  or  suborn  witnesses,  and  escape  punishment. 
This  slight  punishment  will  not  cure  him  of  the  vice*,  it  will 
only  cause  him  to  be  more  wary  and  artful  in  order  to  escape 
detection. 

If  this  man  is  so  young  that  his  youth  is  to  excuse  his  crimes 
how  has  he  become  invested  with  the  command  of  a  ship  ? 
Has  he  arrived  at  that  command  by  his  merit,  or  has  he  crept 
through  the  cabin  windows  by  means  of  his  father's  wealth  ? 
I  do  not  know  him,  neither  will  any  man  of  feeling  wish  an 
introduction  to  him  ;  yet  I  strongly  suspect  that  he  is  some 
ship's  cousin.  Had  he  been  placed  upon  a  vessel's  forecastle 
and  compelled  to  work  his  way  aft  by  his  merit,  it  is  more  than 
probable  that  he  would  have  been'  messing  in  a  forecastle  at 
this  time,  and  subject  to  such  treatment  as  he  has  wantonly 


NAVAL   AND    MERCHANT   SERVICE.  145 

inflicted  on  others.  I  am  the  last  person  who  would  wish  to 
countenance  a  man  who  ships  to  perform  a  duty  of  which  he 
is  ignorant,  and  this  is  an  offence  for  which  an  individual  ought 
to  be  punished ;  and  if  flogging  is  to  be  resorted  to  to  punish 
offences,  I  know  of  none,  except  that  of  raising  a  weapon 
against  the  master  of  a  vessel,  where  it  would  be  so  deservedly 
inflicted,  as  in  this.  But  that  punishment  ought  to  be  inflicted 
in  a  proper  manner,  and  should  not  extend  so  far  as  to  deprive  a 
man  of  his  life.  From  the  state  of  our  merchant  service  at 
present,  and  there  being  no  law  to  regulate  apprentices,  as  has 
been  shown,  young  men  are  enabled  to  make  a  voyage  or  two 
to  sea  and  then  ship  as  able  seamen,  to  the  injury  of  the  owner 
and  master  of  the  vessel.  These  impositions  are  very  fre- 
quent, and  they  cannot  be  detected  in  time  to  remedy  the  evi]. 
On  shore,  if  a  man  employs  another  and  he  cannot  perform 
the  duty  for  which  he  was  engaged,  he  may  be  discharged ; 
but  on  board  of  a  ship  the  case  is  very  different ;  a  man  may 
have  the  appearance  of  a  seaman,  and  if  he  says  he  is  such,  his 
word  must  be  taken,  for  it  is  not  until  the  vessel  has  been  to 
sea  that  it  can  be  proven  ;  hence  the  positive  necessity  for  some 
law  to  guard  against  such  abuses.  If  a  man  is  found  incapable 
of  doing  the  duty  for  which  he  shipped,  he  cannot  be  dis- 
charged in  a  foreign  port.  The  vessel  is  bound  to  bring  him 
home,  and  during  the  voyage  others  have  to  do  his  duty. 
The  master  of  the  vessel  may  stop  his  pay,  or  a  part  of  it,  but 
this  does  not  satisfy  those  who  have  to  do  his  duty  in  addition 
to  their  own.  This  happens  very  often  out  of  New  Orleans, 
as  the  high  rate  of  seaman's  wages  induce  rapacious  landlords 
to  send  any  creature  on  board  of  a  ship  as  a  seaman,  so  lono- 
as  they  can  receive  his  advance ;  they  are  perfectly  indifferent 
as  to  his  qualifications.  Such  impositions  create  trouble  with 
officers  and  men,  as  those  who  are  guilty  of  them  are  as  much 
detested  by  the  seamen  who  have  to  do  their  duty,  as  by  the 
master  whom  they  have  deceived.  It  is  a  great  evil,  and  one 
that  will  not  be  removed  until  apprentices  are  bound  to  ship- 
owners for  a  term  of  years  sufficient  to  instruct  them  in  the 
various  and  complicated  duties  of  a  seaman.  But  however 
great  the  provocation  may  have  been,  Nichols  was  no  less  a 
13 


146  iiVILS  AND  ABUSES  IN  TitE 

criminal  for  the  brutal  punishment  that  he  inflicted,  nor  is  Judge 
Story  less  to  blame  for  suffering  him  to  escape  with  so  paltry 
a  punishment.  By  the  wisdom  of  the  framers  of  the  consti- 
tution, the  judiciary  is  placed  beyond  the  reach  of  caprice  or 
political  influence,  as  judges  are  appointed  and  remain  in  office 
during  good  behavior,  and  if  Judge  Story's  behavior  has  been 
in  this  instance  such  as  was  expected  of  him,  my  saying  that 
I  do  not  consider  it  so,  cannot  affect  him,  as  I  am  only  a  sea- 
man, and  as  such,  can  have  no  weight  in  his  eyes.  Unfortu- 
nately for  him,  however,  others  are  of  the  same  opinion  as  my- 
self, which  is  manifest  by  the  following  article  from  the  Boston 
Morning  Post,  of  May  31,  1839 : 

JUDGE  story's  sentence. 

The  sentence  passed  by  Judge  Story,  in  the  circuit  court,  upon  Nicholer 
and  Couch,  master  and  mate  of  ship  Caravan,  wns  a  disappointment  lo 
every  person  present,  and  will  do  more  to  throw  contempt  upon  the  admin- 
istration of  criminal  law  in  the  United  States  than  any  sentence  upon  re- 
cord. These  individuals  were  indicted  under  a  statute  of  the  United  States, 
which  forbids  tlie  infliction  of '*  cruel  and  unusual  punishments  from  malice, 
hatred,  or  revenge,"  under  the  penalty  of  "  a  fine  of  $1000,  or  five  years 
imprisonment,  either  or  both,  according  to  the  nature  and  aggravation  of 
the  offence."  The  facts  in  the  case  have  been  already  stated  in  the  papers 
of  the  day,  and  are  briefly  these  : — One  Henry  Burr,  a  German,  shipped 
at  Liverpool,  on  board  of  Nichols's  ship,  as  a  cook,  and  turned  out  to  be 
grossly  and  utterly  incompetent  to  the  office.  He  was  accordmgly  dis- 
placed and  sent  into  the  forecastle.  But,  not  satisfied  with  this,  he  was 
made  the  object  of  incessant  and  cruel  persecution  by  these  fiends  in  hu- 
man shape,  until  death  at  last  snatched  him  from  their  clutclies.  It  was 
in  evidence  that  lie  was  beaten  every  day  but  one,  (and  then  he  "Was  con- 
fined to  his  berth  from  the  effects  of  previous  beatings,)  by  the  captain  or 
mate,  and  sometimes  by  both.  The  captain  would  sometimes  order  him  to 
draw  bucket  after  bucket  of  water,  and  dash  them  over  him  successively. 
One  of  the  witnesses,  being  asked  if  he  ever  saw  him  wet  more  than  once, 
answered  that  he  *•'- hardly  ever  saw  him  dry.'*  But,  as  if  to  fill  up  the 
measure  of  their  barbarity,  these  wretches  devised  a  new  instrument  of 
torture,  by  fixing  a  sail  needle  in  the  end  of  a  piece  of  bamboo,  with  which 
they  pricked  the  miserable  object  of  their  malice,  to  beguile  the  leisure 
hours  of  a  tedious  passage,  laughing  inhumanly  at  the  wincings  and  con- 
tortions of  their  victim.  When  death  at  last  ransomed  him,  he  was  pitched 
into  the  deep  like  a  dead  dog,  no  prayer  being  uttered,  and  only  the  most 
trivial  notice  taken  of  the  circumstance  in  the  log-book.  One  witness 
seemed  to  have  it  upon  his  conscience  to  declare  repeatedly,  that  this  was 
the  first  burial  at  sea  he  ever  saw  without  a  prayer. 

The  defence  in  this  case  was  as  frivolous  as  the  crime  was  atrocious. 
The  counsel  laboriously  argued  that  the  punishment,  with  the  pricker. 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  147 

though  '*  unusual^''  was  not  "  cruel," — as  many  would  "  prefer  a  few  pricks 
with  a  needle  to  being  beaten  with  a  rope's  end — that  the  discipline  of  the 
ship  required  that  Burr  should  be  punished  for  neglect  of  duty — (as  if  a 
scamari's  duty  could  be  required  of  him  when  he  had  pretended  only  to  be 
a  cook,  and  not  to  have  any  knowledge  of  a  seaman  s  life) — and,  lastly, 
that  the  punishment  was  not  greater  than  the  occasion  justified.  Unhap- 
pily for  the  defence,  there  was  not  the  discrepancy  in  the  testimony  usual 
in  maritime  cases — no  material  fact  being  negatived  by  the  witnesses  for 
the  defendants. 

The  web  of  sophistry  which  had  been  woven  by  the  counsel  for  the  de- 
fendants, was  mercilessly  cleft  to  pieces  by  the  charge  of  the  judge.  It 
was  a  noble  charge,  and  did  justice  to  the  moral  indignation  which  burnt 
in  the  hearts  of  the  numerous  auditors  with  which  the  court-room  was 
thronged.  He  animadverted  in  fit  terms  upon  the  atrocious  cruelty  and 
heartleasness  of  the  offence — the  barbarity  and  relentlessness  of  the  perse- 
cution which  they  had  inflicted,  and  the  cool,  satanic  hate,  with  which  it 
had  been  devised  and  persisted  in.  The  consequence  was  a  verdict  of 
guilty — Couch,  however,  beintr  recommended  to  mercy — probably  because 
he  was  supposed  to  have  acted  at  the  instigation,  and  in  fear  of  the  cap- 
tain. 

What  punishment,  then,  was  due  to  that  captain .''  I  say,  without  fear  of 
contradiction,  that  the  imagination  of  man  cannot  conceive  of  an  additional 
circumstance  to  heighten  the  acrgravation  of  Captain  Nichols's  offence. 
The  provocation  was  but  slight — a  disappointment,  rather  than  a  provoca- 
tion— while  the  punishment  was  excessive,  inhuman,  continuous,  cold-  * 
blooded,  and  implacable.  If  ever  a  man  deserved  to  taste  the  unmitigated 
penalty  of  violated  law,  that  man  was  Nichols.  Five  years  imprisonment 
and  a  thousand  dollars  fine,  as  a  mild  portion  for  one  who  was  only  not 
indicted  for  manslaughter  or  murder,  because,  from  the  well  known  reluc- 
tance of  juries  to  convict,  it  was  feared  he  would  escape  altogether.  But 
instead  of  any  proportionate  sentence,  the  judge,  afler  a  deal  of  twattle 
about  the  youth  of  the  parties,  and  his  own  sympathy  with  the  maritime 
interest,  proceeded  to  sentence  Couch  to  ten  dollars  Jine  and  thirty  days 
imprisonment^  and  Nichols,  the  instigator  of  all  the  cruelty  and  the  perpe- 
trator of  most  of  it ;  Nichols,  one  of  the  most  heartless  and  merciless  of 
monsters,  to  one  hundred  dollars  fine  and  kisety  days  imprisonment! 
And  all  the  time  he  seemed  to  beg  their  pardon  for  sentencing  them  at  all, 
and  very  politely  gave  them  their  choice  of  jails  !  They  laughed  in  his 
face,  as  well  they  might;  and  would  have  (|Uoted,  had  they  known  it, 
**  Partvriunt  montes,  nascitur  ridiculus  mvs'^ — so  frivolus  seemed  the  sen- 
tence, when  compared  with  the  stern,  but  just,  severity  of  the  charge. 

Every  man  in  the  audience  was  disappointed,  nay,  shocked.  It  was  ob- 
vious, that  such  a  sentence  was  a  mere  farce — it  "  kept  the"  statute  "  to  the 
ear  and  broke  it  to  the  hope."  Who  could  help  reflecting  upon  the  care- 
less indifference  with  which  a  poor  loafer  is  deprived  of  liberty,  and  sent 
to  the  house  of  correction  merely  for  drunkenness — or  to  the  state  prison 
for  a  year  for  some  row  in  a  brothel,  while  here,  the  most  unrelenting  and 
savage  atrocity,  resulting  in  the  death  of  an  innocent  man,  was  visited 
with  a  paltry  fine  and  as  paltry  a  confinement.''  If  we  are  to  have  criminal 
laws,  let  us  have  them  administered.  The  next  thing  to  having  none,  is 
to  have  them  judicially  abrogated.  If  the  life  of  a  man  is  held  so  cheap 
in  our  courts,  we  ri.eed  not  wonder  thz^t  it  is  held  still  cheaper,  and  even 


148  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

worthless,  at  sea.  It  is  time  that  the  remorseless  cruelty  of  barbarian  sea- 
captains  was  arrested,  and  they  made  to  feel,  that  though  rulers,  they  may 
not  be  tyrants,  and  that  the  broad  ^gis  of  the  law  is  over  the  very  hum- 
blest citizen,  for  his  protection,  on  the  remotest  wave  or  shore  of  the  deep. 

A  few  more  such  flagrant  instances  of  judicial  weakness  will  make  the 
name  of  justice  a  laughing  stock  among  us, — and  the  homeless  and  house^ 
less  mariner  will  have  more  to  dread  from  the  unrestrained  passions  and 
unpunishable  ferocity  of  man,  than  from  all  the  perils  of  the  waves,  or  the 
asperities  of  the  most  inhospitable  regions. 

We  invoke  no  vindictive  punishments.  Let  justice  always  be  tempered 
with  mercy.  But  if  five  years  imprisonment  and  a  thousand  dollars  fine 
be  a  disproporii(mate  punishment  for  such  offenders  as  Nichols,  it  is  high 
time  our  criminal  code  was  reformed,  and  the  punishment  of  arson  and 
hicrhway  robbery  made  confinement  for  a  few  years  instead  of  death,  and 
of°theft,  and  forgery,  and  adultery,  reduced  to  months  instead  of  years. 
Let  the  severity  of  the  punishment  be  proportioned  to  the  guilt,  rather  than 
the  wealth,  or  family  of  the  offender, — and  be  administered  with  an  inflex- 
ible and  uncompromising  sternness,  worthy  the  importance  of  the  interests 
which  penal  laws  are  enacted  to  protect. 

^^  Fiat  justitia — mat  cerium''  An  On-looker. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

Great  care  requisite  in  the  selection  of  officers  for  tlie  merchant 
service — probable  losses  from  their  ignorance — ignorance  of  seamen 
— efforts  of  individuals  to  improve  their  condition — assistance  required 
from  the  general  government — seamen  on  the  lakes  compared  with 
those  on  our  sea  board — education — want  thereof—proposals  to  effect 
that  object — want  of  teachers  for  seamen  of  the  navy. 

Never  let  our  citizens  express  their  horror  or  disapprobation 
of  punishment  in  the  navy,  when  they  know  that  one  individual 
hired  by  another,  is  daily  exercising  the  same  power  without 
having  the  same  restraints  imposed  upon  them  that  public  offi- 
cers have.  It  very  often  happens  that  mates  are  more  to 
blame  than  masters,  therefore  great  care  ought  to  be  taken  in 
their  selection,  and  they  should  be  examined  previous  to  being 
engaged.  The  master  of  a  vessel  is  bound  to  support  his 
mates,  but  he  ought  to  be  clear-sighted  enough  to  see  how  far 
that  support  is  required,  and  whether  the  cause  be  a  just  one, 
I  never  commanded  a  merchant  vessel,  but  I  have  commanded 
men,  and  during  the  whole  of  my  experience  in  th^  pavy  ^n^ 


NAVAL  AND  MERCHANT  SERVICE* 


149 


merchant  service,  I  have  ever  found  that  men  will  obey  with 
more  alacrity  if  mild  language  is  used,  than  by  violence  or 
abuse,  and  will  obey  quicker  from  love  than  from  fear.  The 
proper  qualifications  to  command  respect  and  obedience  has 
not  received  that  attention  that  the  importance  of  the  subject 
demands.  It  is  impossible  to  state  with  any  degree  of  exact- 
ness, the  immense  losses  that  our  merchants  annually  sustain, 
by  revolts,  mutinies,  and  other  causes,  inseparable  from  our 
present  system  of  nautical  arrangements  ;  but  even  if  this  could 
be  done,  the  sum  would  be  so  enormous  as  to  exceed  belief. 
Much  of  this  loss  is  occasioned  by  the  incompetence  and  igno- 
rance of  officers.  It  is  not  only  necessary  that  a  ship-master 
should  be  an  experienced  practical  seaman  and  navigator,  but 
he  should  also  thoroughly  understand  the  laws  of  gravitation  and 
buoyancy.  For  in  consequence  of  their  ignorance  on  these  im- 
portant subjects, Ve  frequently  hear  of  vessels  being  abandoned, 
and  picked  up  at  sea  months  afterwards,  with  masts  standing, 
yards  across,  and  sails  bent,  and  in  some  instances  without 
water  in  the  hold.  A  shipmaster  who  thus  abandons  his  ves- 
sel ought  never  again  to  be  intrusted  with  command.  That  all 
masters  and  officers  of  ships  should  be  sober  men  will  be  ad- 
mitted ;  but  that  all  are  so  will  admit  of  a  doubt.  From  intem^ 
perance  among  both  officers  and  men  much  evil  arises.  By 
an  article  in  the  "  Boston  Morning  Post,"  copied  from  the 
Sailor's  Magazine  of  January,  1836,  it  appears  **  that  three 
hundred  and  sixteen  vessels,  and  eight  hundred  and  twenty- 
six  lives  were  lost  in  1826.  Estimating  the  value  of  each  ves- 
sel and  cargo  at  $20,000,  we  have  the  amount  of  $6,320,000 
lost  in  one  year  by  shipwrecks."  A  vessel  may  often  be 
wrecked  by  the  splitting  of  a  sail,  for  the  loss  of  it  may  pre- 
vent Jier  from  clearing  some  known  danger,  and  that  sail 
might  have  been  saved  if  that  unanimity  and  reciprocity  of 
feeling  existed  between  officers  and  men,  which  is  so  absolutely 
necessary  to  insure  the  prompt  execution  of  any  arduous  duty. 
*'  You  may  lead  a  horse  to  water,  but  you  cannot  make  him 
drink,"  is  an  old  adage,  but  no  less  true.  You  may  order  a  sea- 
man aloft  to  reef  or  furl  a  sail,  but  you  cannot  make  him  go  with 
alacrity,  or  do  the  duty  assigned  him  with  the  same  speed  or 
13* 


150  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

interest,  if  he  has  been  badly  treated,  that  he  otherwise  would. 
From  this  cause  many  disasters  occur.  It  would  be  within 
bounds  to  suppose  that  three-fourths  of  the  shipwrecks  of  1826, 
were  occasioned  by  other  causes  than  the  violence  of  the  gales 
or  the  dispensations  of  Divine  Providence  ;  if  that  is  the  case, 
in  that  year  alone,  there  was  a  loss  of  ^4,740,000,  either  to 
merchants,  ship-owners,  or  insurance  offices,  and  this  ought 
surely  to  demand  their  attention.  I  am  well  aware  that'such  cal- 
culations are  frequently  made  and  brought  before  the  public,  by 
those  who  are  vastly  my  superiors  in  education,  and  there  fore- 
could  dress  their  remarks  and  coincidences  in  better  language 
than  a  common  sailor.  But  these  deductions  are  often  made 
to  favor  some  plan  of  the  writer,  who  is  very  probably  as  igno- 
rant of  seamen's  manners  and  habits  while  on  board  of  a  ship, 
as  a  ringtail  monkey  is  of  logarithms.  I  have  no  object  to 
accomplish  but  that  of  benefiting  the  merchant  and  seaman,  for 
their  interests  are  inseparable  ;  and  if  my  style  is  uncouth,  I 
have  at  least  the  advantage  of  practical  experience  and  a  know- 
ledge of  what  I  would  describe,  although  1  may  be  very  defi- 
cient in  scholastic  education,  nor  need  that  be  wondered  at 
when  the  disadvantages  under  which  I  have  labored  are  duly- 
considered.  With  regard  to  the  instances  already  enumerated, 
it  must  be  obvious  to  every  reader  that  there  is  a  radical  wrong 
existing  some  where,  whether  in  the  incapability  of  the  officers, 
or  seamen,  the  insufficiency  of  the  laws  for  their  protection 
and  encouragement,  or  in  all  three ;  must  be  judged  by  the 
public.  But  that  there  is  a  wrong  or  an  evil  existing  can  no 
longer  be  doubted,  and  it  ought  to  be  remedied.  That  great 
difficulties  arise  from  the  ignorance  of  seamen  respecting  the 
law,  I  am  well  satisfied.  They  are  under  the  impression  that 
under  certain  circumstances  they  may  refuse  to  do  duty  with- 
out a  violation  of  them,  or  rendering  themselves  liable  to  pun- 
ishment ;  and  this  would  easily  be  removed  by  having  more  at- 
tention paid  to  their  instruction.  For  some  time  past  many 
philanthrophic  individuals  in  Boston,  New  York,  and  other 
northern  ports,  have  given  much  of  their  attention  to  the  moral 
condition  of  seamen.  But  until  that  becomes  general  through- 
out the  Union,  the  benefits  arising  from  their  exertions  will  be 


NaVal  and  merchant  service.  151 

but  little  felt.  It  is  true  that  seamen  when  they  go  to  sea  from 
ports  sober  and  steady,  they  will  be  enabled  to  do  their  duty 
better ;  but  further  than  that,  there  is  no  benefit  to  be  derived 
from  such  a  course.  If  on  their  arrival  in  a  southern  port  they 
are  enticed  into  haunts  of  infamy  and  dissipation,  what  they 
save  at  the  north  serves  to  enrich  bawds  and  landlords  at  the 
south ;  who  are  beings  destitute  of  every  moral  principle. 
Keeping  a  seaman  sober  while  in  Boston  and  plunging  him 
into  dissipation  in  New  Orleans,  is  like  placing  him  in  a  warm 
bath  when  nearly  frozen,  and  when  restored  to  comfort  thrust- 
ing him  out  again  into  the  cold  piercing  blast  ;  his  constitution 
receives  a  greater  shock  by  it,  and  he  looks  back  to  the  short 
time  that  he  enjoyed  comfort  and  happiness,  as  a  spot  of  sun- 
shine lingering  unfaded  amid  a  dark  and  dreary  waste.  The 
mercliants,  shipmasters,  and  citizens  of  New  Orleans,  have  at 
length  awakened  to  a  sense  of  this  evil,  and  the  destitute  con- 
dition of  seamen.  And  such  being  the  case,  the  great  river  city 
will  not,  it  is  hoped,  be  backward  in  assisting  to  produce  the 
very  requisite  reformation  in  the  character  of  so  useful  a  class 
of  men.  Let  a  strenuous  effort  be  once  made  throughout  the 
Union,  and  in  a  short  time  the  monsters  that  chained  seamen 
in  their  iron  grasp  will  be  laid  in  the  dust.  Intemperance  and 
ignorance,  their  most  deadly  enemies,  will  be  banished  from 
among  them,  and  whatever  remains  to  be  accomplished  will 
go  hand  and  hand  with  the  continued  diffusion  of  useful  know- 
ledge. It  must  be  gratifying  to  every  philanthropic  and  liberal 
minded  man,  every  merchant,  every  ship-owner,  every  friend 
of  seamen,  and  every  American  citizen,  to  know  that  vigorous 
efforts  are  being'put  in  force  in  many  of  our  sea  ports  to  accom- 
plish this  very  desirable  object.  In  a  country  like  the  United 
States,  every  citizen  must  feel  interested  in  the  welfare  of  this 
class  of  men,  for  on  them,  in  a  great  measure,  depends  the 
w*elfare  of  the  country.  There  are  very  few  indeed,  on  our 
extensive  sea-board,  who  are  not  in  some  way  connected  with 
seamen  ;  the  merchant,  ship-owner,  those  who  hold  shares  in 
insurance  ofHces,  and  those  who  have  friends  who  follow  the 
sea.  Persons  who  take  passage  either  on  business,  for  recrea- 
tion, health,  or  improvement,  are  more  or  less  interested,  as 


152  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

well  as  the  nation  at  large  ;  for  upon  seamen  the  duty  devolves 
to  bring  those  articles  to  our  shores  on  which  the  duty  is  paid, 
that  fills  our  treasury,  and  enables  us  to  meet  our  national  ex- 
penses. 

The  government,  long  ere  this,  ought  to  have  done  some- 
thing for  seamen  ;  but  while  it  has  been  carefully  scrutinizing 
the  intellectual  improvement  of  the  naval  officers,  it  has  evinced 
an  apathy  towards  seamen,  which  would  imply  a  total  incapacity 
on  their  part  to  arrive  at  any  other  standard  of  moral  excellence, 
than  is  to  be  found  in  the  character  of  the  honest  and  redoubta- 
ble "  Tom  Pipes."  The  truth  is,  if  the  condition  of  seamen  is 
left  to  be  ameliorated  by  the  government,  it  will  be  done  about 
the  time  that  the  celebrated  Charles  Fox  agreed  to  pay  his 
debts — that  was  the  day  after  the  day  of  judgment.  Who  are 
they  who  look  upon  seamen  as  incapable  of  any  further  ad- 
vances towards  perfectability  ?  And  who  do  not  believe  that 
the  cause  of  truth  and  virtue  are  marching  onward?  We  have 
only  to  draw  a  comparison  between  the  seamen  on  the  sea  coast 
and  those  upon  the  lakes,  to  see  what  they  are  capable  of  On 
the  lakes  we  hear  of  them  holding  meetings  and  entering  into 
resolutions  to  respect  the  Sabbath,  attending  the  worship  of 
Almighty  God,  and  appropriating  a  part  of  their  monthly  pay 
for  the  relief  of  those  who  are  disabled,  by  sickness  or  accident, 
from  earning  a  subsistence  for  themselves — but  drawing  a 
clause,  whereby  none  of  such  a  fund  should  be  appropriated 
for  those  who  brought  disease  upon  themselves.  With  such 
ocular  demonstration  before  us,  we  can  no  longer  imagine  that 
seamen  are  incapable  of  social  duties,  nor  look  upon  them  as 
irrational  beings — an  error  which  many  have  fallen  into  respect- 
ing them.  But  much  of  what  requires  to  be  done,  ought  to  be 
accomplished  by  the  general  and  state  governments,  and  this 
subject  ought  to  be  introduced  to  the  notice  of  Congress,  at 
an  early  period.  That  body  is,  no  doubt,  liberally  disposed 
towards  seamen,  and  especially  those  of  the  navy ;  and  was 
some  proper  plan  laid  before  them  for  improving  their  condi- 
tion, there  can  be  no  doubt  but  what  it  would  meet  with  their 
concurrence  and  support, — and  some  method  might  be  taken  to 
instil  into  their  minds  "those  protecting  principles  which  at 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  153 

once  guard,  consecrate,  and  sweeten,  the  social  intercourse 
which  constitutes  man's  purity,  his  best  protection."  Seamen 
certainly  have  a  right  to  expect  some  amelioration  of  their  con- 
dition, from  policy — to  claim  it  from  justice,  and  demand  it  from 
gratitude ;  or  are  they  to  be  left  to  drift,  without  chart,  helm, 
anchor  or  compass,  into  the  shoreless  ocean  of  impiety  ?  Per- 
haps their  tameness  and  submission  may  be  construed  into  a 
proof  of  apathy — and  my  daring  to  raise  my  voice,  feeble  as  it 
is,  in  their  behalf,  may  be  construed  into  audacity. 

Hitherto  there  has  been  no  attention  paid  to  tlie  education  of 
seamen,  either  in  the  merchant  or  naval  service,  although  in  the 
latter  there  are  teachers  allowed  and  provision  made  by  law. 
Whether  the  teachers  are  to  instruct  officers  only,  in  addition 
to  the  professors,  I  cannot  attempt  to  determine.  I  should  sup- 
pose that  a  person  receiving  one  hundred  dollars  per  month, 
could  afford  to  instruct  the  officers,  and  let  the  teachers  turn 
their  attention  to  the  boys  and  youngsters  of  the  crew.  There 
are  many  young  men  in  the  navy  who,  in  three  years,  could 
receive  as  much  or  more  instruction  than  they  could  in  a  year 
at  school,  where  their  whole  time  and  attention  would  be  de^ 
voted  to  it,  and  that,  too,  without  at  all  interfering  with  their 
duty,  was  it  only  properly  attended  to.  If  a  bent  was  once 
given  to  their  inclination  in  this  w^ay,  they  would  follow  it,  and 
much  good  would  be  the  result.  When  I  was  a  youngster,  on 
board  the  ship  Venus,  of  New  York,  the  crew  were  all  Ameri- 
cans, and  w^e  used  to  sit  up  during  our  forenoon  watch,  and  in- 
struct ourselves — and  on  Sunday,  if  the  weather  was  fine,  we 
would  all  assemble  on  the  forecastle,  and  read  or  otherwise 
amuse  ourselves — -thereby  combining  amusement  with  instruc- 
tion ;  and  the  same  is  the  case  at  present,  on  board  of  some  of 
our  northern  vessels,  although  rarely,  which  is  possibly  to  be 
attributed  to  the  great  increase  of  our  commerce,  without  the 
corresponding  increase  of  native  seamen,  and  a  consequent 
influx  of  foreigners,  whose  tastes  and  habits  are  so  dissimilar  to 
those  of  the  native ;  so  that  at  the  present  day  the  young  sea- 
man, instead  of  improving  himself,  except  in  his  profession,  soon 
forgets  all  that  he  has  learned — loses  that  respect  for  religion 
which  is  so  essentially  necessary  in  the  character  of  everj^  man, 


154  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

let  his  station  in  life  be  what  it  may, — thus  having  no  restraint 
placed  upon  his  inclinations  by  a  fear  of  God,  he  runs  into  de- 
bauchery and  vice. 

There  are  many  individuals  in  our  northern  ports  who  devote 
much  of  their  time  to  the  instruction,  and  bettering  the  condi- 
tion, of  seamen :  the  most  prominent  of  whicli  is  the  Rev. 
E.  T.  Taylor,  of  Boston ;  but  I  must  differ  from  them,  as  to 
the  manner  by  which  they  wish  to  impart  that  instruction. 
They  expect  too  much  at  first,  from  the  sailor.  They  place 
books  in  his  hands,  commonly  tracts,  of  an  entire  religious 
nature,  and  thereby  disgust  him  at  once.  In  fact,  I  never 
knew  any  real  benefit  derived  from  these  tracts,  and  I  have 
seen  hundreds  of  them  on  board  of  our  ships.  The  numerous 
certificates  that  I  have  seen  published,  purporting  to  be  certifi- 
cates of  the  good  done  by  them,  I  rather  take  to  be  fiction,  for 
some  interested  motives,  or  else  the  signers  of  them  were  so 
enthusiastic  that  they  were  easily  deceived  by  the  seamen,  who 
possibly  laughed  at  their  gullibillity  when  their  backs  were 
turned.  It  is  true  that  a  seaman,  on  Sunday,  who  has  nothing 
to  do  at  sea  if  the  weather  is  fine,  would  rather  read  a  tract,  if 
he  can  read,  than  be  without  reading  at  all — but  give  him  ro- 
mance, travels  and  history,  and  see  if  those  who  are  believed  to 
be  the  most  pious,  will  not  take  either  of  those  in  preference  to 
tracts.  The  first  step,  in  my  opinion,  to  be  taken  with  regard 
to  the  improvement  of  seamen,  must  be  in  destroying  the  fabric^ 
of  their  bad  habits  and  vices.  When  this  is  razed  to  the  foun- 
dation, and  not  one  stone  left  standing  upon  another,  then  com- 
mence to  lay  the  foundation  of  improvement — but  raise  it  not 
too  hastily,  or  it  will  soon  crumble  to  pieces — let  every  stone 
be  placed  and  firmly  cemented,  before  another  is  laid  upon  it- — 
and  let  the  last  one  be  religion,  which  will  come  to  its  place  of 
itself,  without  much  efl:brt  on  the  part  of  the  builder.  There  is 
a  Bible  to  each  mess  on  board  of  our  ships  of  war,  but  they  are 
not  used  in  any  way  except  as  an  ornament  on  the  top  of  the 
mess  can,  on  the  mess  chest.  The  cook  of  a  mess  will  be 
flogged  if  the  Bible  is  not  in  its  place  as  an  ornament,  but 
nothing  will  be  said  to  him  for  not  applying  it  to  the  use  for 
which  it  was  intended, 


NA^AL    AND    MERChrANT^    SERVICE,  l5^ 

By  the  general  directions  fronn  the  President  of  the  United 
Stales,  (I  know  not  what  date,  as  it  is  torn  off,  in  the  work  before 
me,  but  the  owner's  name  is  in  it,  dated  1812,)  and  signed  by 
Benjannin  Homans,  acting  secretary  of  the  navy,  schoohnasters 
are  directed  to  teach  junior  officers,  and  whoever  else  the  cap- 
tain may  direct.  But  were  there  ever  any  instructed  by  those 
schoolmasters,  except  officers  ?  Never,  since  I  knew  the  navy. 
A  short  time  after  1  was  appointed  a  gunner  in  the  navy,  1  was 
ordered  to  the  United  States  ship  Concord,  and  on  board  of  her 
there  was  one  of  the  professors  appointed  under  the  new  regu- 
lations. 1  was  anxious  to  increase  my  limited  knowledge  of" 
mathematics,  as  I  consider  a  knowledge  of  that  branch  essen- 
tially necessary  for  a  gunner,  who  ought  to  be,  as  in  the  French 
service,  the  officer  to  instruct  the  junior  officers  and  the  seamen 
in  the  use  of  the  great  guns  and  small  arms,  which  is  also  the 
case  in  the  British  service,  although  not  in  ours.  The  lieuten- 
ants, in  our  navy,  have  to  instruct  the  seamen  in  the  exercise 
of  the  great  guns — and  a  sargeant,  or  corporal  of  marines,  the 
use  of  the  small  arms — and  that  is  one  great  reason  why  seamen 
are  so  much  opposed  to  this  necessary  branch  of  their  educa- 
tion as  defenders  of  our  country,  and  this  also  serves  to  foster 
the  ill  feeling  between  soldiers  and  seamen — for  however  great 
their  respect  may  be  for  a  sargeant  or  corporal,  the  moment 
that  he  is  placed  over  them  to  drill  them,  their  hatred  com- 
mences ;  whereas,  if  a  gunner,  who  has  risen  from  among  them, 
was  capable  of  instructng  them,  the  case  would  be  different,  and 
the  improvement  under  his  tuition  would  be  more  rapid.  But 
to  resume.  I  did  not  wish,  on  my  joining  the  Concord,  to  ap- 
ply to  the  professor  to  instruct  me  in  mathematics,  although  I 
dare  say  Professor  McGowan  would  have  done  so ;  but  as  he 
had  just  entered  the  service,  and  was  ignorant  of  its  rules  and 
customs,  I  was  under  the  impression  that  he  would  afterwards 
have  thought  that  I  had  taken  advantage  of  his  ignorance. 
The  captain  was  my  personal  friend,  but  him  I  could  not  apply 
to  for  an  order  to  that  effect,  as  it  was  unusual,  and  would  have 
been  construed  into  a  wish  on  my  part  to  receive  greater  favors 
and  indulgencies  than  had  hitherto  been  customary  in  the  ser- 
vice ;  so  that  during  the  long  time  we  lay  at  Tampa  Bay^ 


156  EVlLS    AND    ABtJSJfiS    IN    THE 

when  most  of  the  officers  were  absent  on  expeditions,  and  little 
was  carried  on,  on  board,  I  was  compelled  to  solve  the  problems 
in  Hutton  and  Euclid,  as  best  I  might.  The  disadvantage 
which  I  labored  under  when  a  boy,  still  followed  me  when  I 
became  an  officer,  except  that  the  increase  of  my  pay  enabled 
me  to  purchase  such  books  as  1  wanted,  and  in  my  state  room 
I  could  study  when  I  pleased  ;  and  nothing  more  was  wanting 
but  a  teacher  to  direct  my  studies. 

Schoolmasters,  of  talent  and  education,  have  at  different 
times  been  appointed  in  the  navy;  but  they,  and  chaplains, 
whose  duty  it  ought  to  be,  have  never  pointed  out  any  plan  for 
education,  except  in  regard  to  officers.  They  have  v^ritten 
amusing  volumes,  but  have  studiously  avoided  pointing  out  any 
of  the  abuses,  which  they  must  have  observed,  and  which  they 
could  have  done  with  a  greater  prospect  of  success  than  can  be 
anticipated  from  any  production  of  a  man  like  myself,  who  has 
had  to  pick  up  his  education  as  chance  offered,  and  that,  too, 
at  a  time  when  there  was  not  the  attention  paid  to  boys  that 
there  is  at  present.  When  I  entered  the  navy,  boys  were  al- 
lowed to  drink  half  a  pint  of  spirits  per  day,  and  "get  monkeys' 
allowance,"  as  Capt.  Marryat  has  it,  that  is,  "  more  kicks  than 
half  pence."  It  may  truly  be  said  of  education,  "  of  all  the 
blessings  which  it  has  pleased  Providence  to  allow  us  to  culti- 
vate, there  is  none  which  breathes  a  purer  fragrance,  or  bears  a 
more  heavenly  aspect.  It  is  a  companion  that  no  misfortune 
can  depress,  no  clime  destroy,  no  enemy  alienate,  no  despotism 
enslave :  at  home  a  friend,  abroad  an  introduction,  in  solitude  a 
solace,  in  society  an  ornament :  it  chastens  vice,  it  guides  virtue, 
it  gives  at  once  a  grace  and  government  to  genius.  Without  it 
what  is  man  ?  A  splendid  slave  1  a  reasoning  savage."  "  All 
the  superstitions  which  enslave,  the  prejudices  which  debase, 
vanish  before  education." 

With  regard  to  the  plan  for  the  improvement  and  education 
of  seamen,  I  will  venture  to  say  but  little,  and  leave  it  in  abler 
hands  than  my  own.  But  it  appears  that  there  ought  to  be 
one  or  more  schools  in  all  our  sea  ports  (according  to  their  size) 
provided  with  books,  maps,  charts,  and  teachers  properly  quali- 
fied to  instruct  seamen  in  the  use  of  them,  a  knowledge  of  which 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  157 

IS  SO  essentially  necessary  to  enable  theni  to  perform  their  duty 
as  seamen  and  citizens.  I  would  not  recommend  to  make  every 
seaman  a  finished  scholar,  for  that  were  impracticable;  but 
"  there  is  always  this  advantage  in  aiming  at  higher  results — that 
the  failure  is  never  total,  and  that,  though  the  end  accomplished 
may  fall  far  short  of  that  proposed,  it  cannot  but  reach  far  in 
advance  of  the  point  from  which  we  start*  There  is  never  any 
great  and  permanent  good  accomplished  but  by  hoping  for,  and 
aiming  at,  something  still  greater."  Another  advantage  would 
be  gained  by  establishing  schools — that  is,  that  mental  occupa- 
tion would  keep  seamen  from  dissipation.  Nothing  is  truer 
than  that  a  man  who  has  nought  to  do,  generally  tries  to  kill 
time  by  resorting  to  places  where  he  sooner  or  later  kills  him- 
self How  incalculable,  then,  would  be  the  benefit  from  having 
schools,  if  the  listlessness  and  ennui  which  prompts  ihem  to  a 
use  of  ardent  spirits  were  removed,  and  the  school  room  made 
more  attractive  than  the  neighboring  grog  shop* 

It  is  shocking  to  the  mind  of  any  liberal-minded  man,  to  re- 
flect that  so  many  of  his  brethren  are  daily  passing  before  his 
eyes,  who  are  totally  uneducated.  The  ignorant  Indian  believes 
in  the  existence  of  a  great  spirit — the  Hindoo  kneels  to  his 
wooden  god,  and  solicits  assistance  from  an  inanimate  block  of 
Avood  :  the  cause  of  this  is  ignorance,  which  is  the  parent  of 
credulity  and  scepticism.  Then  why  wonder  that  the  seamen, 
who  are  nearly  as  ignorant,  should  believ^e  in  the  existence  of 
"  a  flying  Dutchman,"  or  that  Friday  is  an  unlucky  day  ?  Had 
the  money  which  has  been  expended  on  foreign  missionaries 
been  expended  upon  seamen,  who  are  equally  in  as  much  need 
of  instruction  as  the  heathen,  they  would,  long  ere  this,  have 
borne  a  different  character.  I  may  say,  with  a  celebrated 
orator,  that  "  you  traverse  the  ocean  to  emancipate  the  African  ; 
you  cross  the  line  to  convert  the  Hindoo,"  and  Sandwich 
Islander;  "but  your  brethren  at  home,  who  speak  the  same 
tongue,  acknowledge  the  same  law,  and  kneel  to  the  same  God, 
cannot  get  one  visit  from  your  itinerant  humanity.  Such  a  sys- 
tem is  almost  too  abominable  for  a  name ;  it  is  a  monster  of 
impiety,  impolicy,  ingratitude  and  injustice !  The  Pagan  na- 
tions of  antiquity  scarcely  acted  upon  such  barbarous  principles." 
14 


158  EVILS   AND   ABUSES    IN   THE 

This  language  was  used  in  behalf  of  the  Irish  Catholics,  but  it 
may  be  equally  applied  to  the  American  seamen.  ''  To  justify 
this  enormity  there  is  no  argument ;  now  is  the  time  to  concede 
with  dignity  what  has  never  been  denied  without  injustice." 
The  attention  of  the  general  government  ought  to  be  turned  to 
this  subject ;  and  I  regret  that  the  duty  of  bringing  it  to  public 
notice  has  devolved  on  one  so  unable  to  fulfil  the  task ;  but  "  he 
who  waits  for  an  opportunity  to  do  much  at  once,  may  breathe 
out  his  life  in  idle  wishes,  and  regret,  in  his  last  hour,  his  use- 
less intentions  and  barren  zeal." 


C  H  AFTER    XVII. 

"Degradation  of  seamen" — subscriptions — want  of  a  library  for  the 
crews  of  sliips  of  war  and  merchant  vessels — Sandwich  Islanders — 
their  supply  of  books — the  navy  slush  fund — its  mal  appropriation — 
-books  and  education  provided  for  by  hunting  up  and  applying  the  hos- 
pital fund— abuse  respecting  it  and  its  estimated  amount — naval  hos- 
pitals and  medical  department  of  ships  in  the  navy. 

'^The  degradation  of  seamen  is  a  fruitful  theme  with  those 
who  know  nothing  about  them,  or  who  are  interested  in  such 
misrepresentations.  It  is  evident  that  people  who  tell  about 
the  degradation  of  seamen,  do  not  know  in  what  degradation 
consists.  The  miserly  rascal  who  would  withhold  a  copper 
from  a  starving  child,  while  he  swindles  the  seaman  out  of  his 
hard  earnings,  will  whine  about  the  degradation  of  the  whole 
class.  No  doubt  he  thinks  it  perfectly  right  to  cheat  him,  lay- 
ing this  unction  to  his  conscience,  that  his  victim  is  a  degraded 
being.  The  parson,  while  he  takes  all  the  sailor's  change  to 
assist  him  in  converting  the  heathen,  tells  about  the  degradation 
of  the  contributor,  and  from  the  manner  in  which  he  speaks  of 
him,  one  would  suppose  that  he  thought  it  right  to  take  the 
devil's  money  to  build'churches  with.  He  would  not  eat  nor 
drink  with  the  hardy  son  of  the  ocean,  but  he  is  very  willing 
to  take  his  money.  The  judge,  bolstered  up  on  his  high  seat, 
tells  about  the  degradation  of  seamen,  and  makes  this  an  ex- 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  159 

cuse  for  tilting  the  scales  of  justice,  of  violating  even  handed 
justice,  and  dealing  to  him  punishment  where  he  should  receive 
damages  !  Yes,  a  judge,  whose  whole  life  has  been  spent  in 
the  closet  or  on  the  bench,  who  knows  no  more  of  a  vessel, 
or  the  conduct  of  seamen  on  board  of  one  of  them  than  a 
ring  tailed  monkey  does  of  the  law,  very  gravely  tells  the  pub- 
lic that  sailors  are  a  degraded  class  of  beings.  (Here  the 
worTc  from  which  I  extract  is  mutilated,^  *  *  Yes,  degraded 
because,  through  storm  and  tempest,  they  bring  him,  from  dis- 
tant shores,  the  tea  which  he  sips  at  night,  the  broadcloth  which 
covers  him,  and  the  china  which  shines  in  his  cupboard — de- 
graded, because  when  he  is  snoring  in  bed,  under  the  effects 
of  a  brandy  potion,  they  are  buffeting  the  storm  upon  the 
white  surges  of  the  ocean — degraded,  because  while  he  is 
hobbling  about  with  the  rheumatism,  gout,  or  some  filthy  disor- 
der, they  are  hale,  fearless,  and  wholesome. 

"  Every  little  chimney  corner  whipper  snapper  is  permitted 
to  start  up  and  tell  of  the  degradation  of  seamen — men  of  whom 
he  is  totally  ignorant,  whom  he  never  saw  in  their  accustomed 
element,  and  of  whose  customs  and  conduct  at  sea  he  must,  of 
course,  be  profoundly  ignorant.  On  the  other  hand,  many 
shipmasters  and  officers  are  glad  to  take  advantage  of  this 
opinion  which  landsmen  have  formed  of  seamen,  as  it  affords 
an  excuse  for  oppressing  them,  and  keeping  them  under  as 
much  as  possible.  If  seamen  are  degraded,  the  public  gene- 
rally, and  sea  officers  in  particular,  go  the  right  way  to  work 
to  keep  them  so.  But  degradation  does  not  consist  in  wearing 
a  tarpaulin  hat  and  a  blue  jacket.  It  rather  consists  in  false- 
hood, avarice,  and  oppression,  all  of  which  qualities  are  most 
conspicuous  in  the  traducers  of  seamen." 

There  are  too  many  truths  in  the  foregoing  extract.  On 
board  of  our  vessels  of  war,  especially,  there  are  always  some^  y 
object  or  other  for  which  the  crews  are  solicited  to  subscribe.  V 
A  preacher  came  on  board  the  U.  S.  ship  Delaware,  to  solicit 
contributions  to  build  a  church  at  Washington,  where  there  is 
scarcely  a  seaman  to  be  seen.  A  subscription  was  got  up  at 
Pensacola,  some  years  ago,  for  the  same  purpose,  although 
there  is  not  a  church  there  that  they  wish  to  see  a  seaman  en- 


160  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

ter.  Churches  for  seamen  have  generally  been  built  by  the 
merchants  and  citizens,  while  the  sums  raised  from  seamen 
have  generally  filled  the  pockets  of  those  who  solicited  their 
money.  On  board  the  Lexington,  during  a  cruise  on  the 
coast  of  Brazil,  a  subscription  was  raised  to  purchase  instru- 
ments for  a  band  of  musicians,  another  to  purchase  a  piece  of 
ground  in  Bahia  for  a  burying  ground,  where  there  is  not  one 
man-of-war's  man  dies  in  five  years,  another  for  some  object 
that  I  have  forgotten.  This  method  of  taking  money  from  sea- 
men is  unprincipled,  and  the  officers  ought  to  guard  them  from 
impositions  of  this  nature,  for  if  a  seaman  is  asked  to  subscribe 
to  anything,  no  matter  what,  he  instantly  puts  down  his  name, 
if  he  sees  the  captain's  down  before  him.  There  is  no  pur- 
pose for  which  a  subscription  could  be  got  up  on  board  of  a 
vessel  of  war,  from  which  so  much  benefit  would  be  derived, 
as  for  a  library,  and  this  is  seldom  done,  and  the  want  of  such 
books  as  would  instruct  and  amuse,  is  much  felt.  There  is  a 
library  furnished  by  the  government  for  every  vessel  of  war, 
but  the  books  are,  like  the  teachers,  only  for  the  officers  ;  nei- 
ther are  the  books  such  as  sailors  require.  They  are  chiefly 
professional,  and  large,  handsomely  bound  volumes,  which 
could  not  be  distributed  to  the  crew,  for  was  one  volume  to  be 
lost  or  destroyed,  the  whole  sett  would  be  ruined,  which  cost 
two  or  three  hundred  dollars.  When  I  was  on  board  the  Lex- 
ington in  1831-32  and  33,  I  read  every  book  that  I  could  pro- 
cure from   the  officers,  but  T  never  could  get  one  from  the 

library  until  after  Capt.  McK r  took  the  command,  and 

even  then  I  had  to  bow  and  scringe  to  his  clerk,  to  get  me  the 
books  which  I  was  allowed  by  the  captain,  which  was  very 
mortifying  to  my  feelings.  I  was  often  kept  several  days  waiting 
for  a  volume,  and  I  at  length  gave  it  up  in  despair,  after  having 
read  Gibbon's  decline  and  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  Botta's 
History  of  the  United  States  and  life  of  Washington,  Irving's 
Columbus,  Mutiny  of  the  Bounty,  and  Cooper's  novels.  When 
I  had  these  books  I  used  to  go  on  the  forecastle,  or  between  two 
guns,  and  read  aloud  to  a  knot  of  perhaps  twenty  or  thirty, 
who  would  gather  round  and  listen.  Many  of  these  men  could 
have  read   themselves,  if  they  had  had  the  books  to  read. 


Naval  and  merchant  service.  161 

Captain  McK r  observed  this^  for  nothing  escaped  his  no- 
tice that  tended  to  the  comfort  of  his  men,  and  he  gave  me 
all  the  small  works  in  the  library,  and  several  of  his  own,  for 
the  use  of  the  crew  ;  this  created  such  a  taste  for  reading  that 
a  number  of  us  subscribed  a  small  sum  each,  and  Lieut.  Myers 
bought  us  books  in  Buenos  Ayres.  The  officers,  also,  gave 
several  volumes,  and  by  this  means  we  raised  a  small  library, 
which  was  arranged  on  shelves  along  the  beams  in  the  store- 
room ;  and  to  prevent  its  interfering  with  the  ship's  duty,  from 
one  to  two,  P.  M.  was  the  hour  appointed  to  return  and  re- 
ceive books,  and  this  plan  was  productive  of  much  benefit,  as 
the  time  devoted  to  reading  would  have  been  spent  in  idleness, 
or  relating,  or  listening  to  immoral  stories.  Those  who  could 
not  read,  listened  to  others  who  could,  and  read  aloud  for 
their  edification ;  thus  all  were  benefited.  There  are  some 
instances  where  the  crews  of  ships  are  permitted  to  subscribe 
a  dollar  or  two  each,  to  purchase  books  for  themselves  before 
they  leave  the  United  States,  where  books  can  be  purchased  so 
cheap.  This  was  the  case  on  board  the  frigate  Potomac,  when 
under  the  command  of  Commodore  Downes,  and  is  so  on  board 
several  vessels,  and  has  always  been  found  to  be  beneficial, 
and  producing  a  moral  tendency.  While  seamen  are  left  with- 
out books,  huge  bundles  of  tracts  are  sent  to  the  Sandwich 
Islands,  on  drunkenness,  usury,  mail  robbery,  and  dissoluteness. 
Missionaries  are  appointed  with  handsome  salaries,  which  they 
increase  by  selling  or  exchanging  these  tracts  for  a  fat  chicken 
or  other  dainty  pleasing  to  the  palate.  And  all  that  remains  to 
be  accomplished,  in  this  land  of  blindness  and  insufficient  good 
works,  is  the  rearing  of  prisons  to  incarcerate  debtors,  statutes 
to  hang  men  for  murder,  and  a  touch  of  negro  slavery. 

There  are  ample  resources  for  furnishing  seamen  of  the  mer- 
chant and  naval  service  with  books  and  education,  if  they  could 
only  be  allowed  the  use  of  their  own.  The  sailors  in  the  navy 
are  allowed,  on  Sunday  and  Thursday,  one  and  one-fourth,  and 
on  Tuesday  one  pound  of  salt  beef,  on  Monday,  Wednesday, 
and  Saturday,  one  pound  of  pork.  From  this  provision,  when 
cooked,  after  being  for  a  long  time  in  salt,  as  is  usually  the 
case,  nearly  all  the  fat  boils  off;  this  is  carefully  skimmed 
14# 


162  fiVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN   TEtfi 

from  the  boilers,  or  coppers,  as  they  are  called,  and  put  into 
empty  beef  or  pork  barrels,  and  sold,  and  the  money  so  received 
IS  called  the  slush  fund.  As  the  provision  is  weighed  to  the 
crew  before  being  boiled,  all  that  comes  from  it  ought  to  be 
given  to  them,  as  it  forms  a  component  part  of  their  ration. 
The  coppers  are  furnished  by  the  government,  and  a  cook 
paid  to  attend  them,  so  that  all  the  slush  that  is  saved  by  him 
belongs  to  the  crew,  and  the  money  received  for  the  sale  of 
that  article  ought  to  be  given  to  them  or  laid  out  for  their 
benefit.  Hitherto  this  has  not  been  done,  but  on  the  contrary, 
it  has  been  expended  to  purchase  such  fancy  articles  as  are 
not  allowed  by  the  regulations,  such  as  cushions  for  boats,  musi- 
cal instruments,  gold  leaf,  and  I  have  known  a  carpet  bought 
for  a  ward-room,  and  Turkish  rugs  for  a  cabin,  with  this  money, 
thereby  making  a  fair  division  of  the  spoil  unlawfully  taken 
from  the  crew.  It  has  been  the  custom  of  the  service  to  leave 
this  fund  at  the  disposal  of  the  first  lieutenant,  but  that  is  no 
reason  why  it  should  continue  to  be,  for  such  a  practice  is  wrong, 
and  the  amount  received  for  the  slush  during  a  cruise  could  be 
recovered  by  the  crew  by  a  course  of  law.  It  may  be  said 
that  if  the  first  lieutenant  cannot  use  this  fund  as  he  pleases  he 
may  make  the  cook  throw  it  overboard.  A  first  lieutenant  has 
certainly  great  power,  but  it  can  hardly  be  supposed  that  he 
would  use  it  in  this  manner,  for  it  would  be  similar  to  telling  a 
man  if  he  did  not  give  him  his  property  he  would  make  him 
destroy  it.  Happily  the  officers  of  our  navy  are  more  con- 
scientious about  such  matters  than  they  formerly  were,  and  I 
am  convinced  that  this  abuse  only  requires  to  be  pointed  out 
to  them  in  order  to  ensure  its  correction.  If  the  government 
will  not  provide  books  for  seamen,  they  should  be  allowed 
what  belongs  to  them,  and  which  could  be  appropriated  for  that 
purpose.  1  have  known  one  hundred  and  twenty  dollars  to  be 
advanced  by  the  purser  of  a  sloop  of  war,  on  the  credit  of  this 
fund,  to  purchase  musical  instruments ;  and  musicians  are  not 
allowed  on  board  of  vessels  of  that  class,  by  the  regulations, 
and  having  them  is  an  abuse.  They  receive  seamen's  rates 
on  the  books  of  the  ship,  and  do  nothing  but  play  for  the 
amusement  of  parties,  while  others  have  to  perform  their  duty. 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  163 

Where  musicians  are  required,  they  are  allowed,  and  instru- 
ments furnished  by  the  government ;  where  they  are  not,  the 
sailor's  ration  ought  not  to  be  taken  to  support  them.  Any 
bookseller  would  furnish  three  or  four  hundred  dollars  worth  of 
books  on  the  credit  of  this  fund,  which  could  be  remitted  to 
him  as  chance  offered,  or  the  money  might  be  advanced  by 
the  purser  previous  to  the  sailing  of  the  vessels,  with  as  much 
propriety,  for  this  purpose,  as  for  musical  instruments.  I  can- 
not form  a  correct  estimate  of  what  this  fund  would  amount  to 
during  a  three  year's  cruise  of  a  sloop  of  war  or  frigate,  but  it 
is  very  considerable,  possibly  four  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  in 
the  former,  and  eight  hundred  in  the  latter.  If  this  money 
was  laid  out  as  it  ought  to  be,  the  crews  of  vessels  of  w^ar 
could  have  a  handsome  library,  as  well  as  be  furnished  with 
the  popular  newspapers  and  periodicals,  from  difTerent  parts  of 
the  United  Stales  ;  and  a  chain  of  communication  would  be 
kept  open  between  a  sailor  and  his  country,  which  none  but 
those  who  have  experienced  the  want  of,  can  fully  appreciate. 
As  it  is  at  present,  a  seaman  or  marine  may  go  a  cruise  of  three 
years,  and  when  he  returns,  be  ignorant  of  who  is  the  chief 
magistrate  of  the  state  or  country  where  he  was  born.  That 
men  should  be  kept  in  this  state,  is  unpardonable.  I  despise 
those  who  have  eyes  and  see  not,  a  heart  and  feel  not,  or  that 
cowardice  and  sycophancy  that  dare  not  expose  such  glaring 
wrongs.  There  are  a  number  of  vessels  now  fitting  out,  and 
the  first  commander  and  executive  officer  who  will  set  the  ex- 
ample of  appropriating  the  slush  fund  for  books,  &c.,  for  the 
use  of  their  crew,  will  deserve  the  thanks  and  gratitude  of  sea- 
men, exclusive  of  doing  an  act  of  long  delayed  justice,  and  I 
hope  that  the  public  will  hear  that  some  one  has  set  an  example 
which  others  would  be  compelled  to  follow. 

For  books  for  seamen  of  the  merchant  service  there  appears 
to  be  no  fund,  unless  one  year's  hospital  fund  be  appropriated. 
If  we  have  125,000  seamen  in  the  United  States,  one  year's 
hospital  fund  would  be  ^300,000;  if  $50,000  is  to  be  de- 
ducted from  this  for  the  time  that  they  may  be  on  shore,  it 
would  still  leave  $250,000,  which,  if  laid  out  in  books,  would 
furnish  every  ship  that  goes  on  a  foreign  voyage,  with  a  small 


164  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN   THE 

library.  Those  that  go  a  coasting  would  not  require  them,  if 
there  were  schools  and  libraries  in  every  port,  for  seamen. 
The  want  of  a  small  compilation  of  the  laws  made  by  Congress 
respecting  commerce  and  seamen,  is  much  felt.  If  an  abridg- 
ed and  suitable  work  of  this  kind  was  in  every  ship's  forecastle, 
it  wogld  lessen  the  number  of  disturbances,  revolts,  &:c.,  as  in 
that  case  both  officers  and  crew  would  know  how  they  stood 
in  relation  to  each  other,  and  would  know  how  far  to  go  with- 
out laying  themselves  liable  to  the  penalties  of  the  law,  or  in- 
fringing on  the  statutes.  If  such  a  work  was  published,  the 
merchants  would  be  gainers  by  furnishing  their  ships  with  two 
copies  each,  at  their  own  expense.  I  have  had  a  small  work 
of  this  kind  sent  me  by  the  Rev.  E.  T.  Taylor,  written  by 
William  Sullivan,  Esq.,  counsellor  at  law;  but  although  it  is  a 
good  little  work,  yet  it  is  by  no  means  comprehensive  enough 
for  the  purpose  required.  The  statutes  ought  to  be  copied  ver- 
batim, and  the  intricate  points  elucidated  so  as  to  render  it 
suitable  to  the  comprehension  of  men  of  limited  education. 

With  regard  to  schools  for  the  education  of  seamen,  the 
hospital  fund  which  has  been  accumulating  for  the  last  forty 
years,  is  amply  sufficient,  and  if  it  was  laid  out  in  such  a  way, 
a  seaman  would  have  a  place  to  go  to  while  on  shore,  where 
he  could  instruct  and  amuse  himself,  instead  of  rambling  from 
one  grog  shop  to  another,  where  he  spends  his  money  and  bru- 
talizes his  mind.  It  is  now  nearly  forty  years  since  the  law 
was  passed,  directing  twenty  cents  per  month  to  be  deducted 
from  the  pay  of  every  seaman  sailing  in  vessels  belonging  to 
individuals  in  the  United  States.  This  sum  was  directed  to  be 
paid  to  the  collectors  of  ports,  and  by  them  into  the  treasury, 
to  be  applied  by  the  President  for  the  erection  of  hospitals  for  ^ 
sick  and  disabled  seamen.  The  same  law  extended  to  the 
seamen  of  the  navy,  but  the  fund  raised  from  them  is  separate 
from  that  of  the  merchant  service.  The  sum  received  by  this 
law  from  merchant  seamen  is  enormous,  and  to  what  purpose 
has  it  been  applied  ?  none  can  answer.  In  the  name  of  justice 
and  humanity  will  our  citizens  stand  tamely  and  see  men  rob- 
bed of  their  hard  earnings  in  this  manner?  Our  country  is 
rising  in  a  commercial  point  of  view,  to  the  first  rank  among 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  165 

the  nations  of  the  earth  ;  seamen  are  at  the  bottom  of  this  great- 
ness, and  what  has  our  government  done  for  them  ?  What  at- 
tention has  it  paid  to  their  education  or  to  qualify  them  to  fill 
their  hard  stations  in  life  with  ability  ?  Was  this  money  only 
hunted  up  and  expended  in  the  erection  of  schools,  in  our  large 
seaports  for  seamen,  much  good  would  be  done  thereby.  But 
no,  they  are  left  on  the  hands  of  philanthrophic  individuals, 
while  their  own  hard  earnings  are  withheld  from  them  by  the 
government.  This  must  surely  be  brought  to  the  notice  of 
Congress  ;  an  outrage  so  glaring,  certainly  will  not  be  suffered 
to  exist  much  longer.  If  we  had  60,000  seamen  in  the  United 
States,  and  they  have  increased  1,500  annually  since  that  law 
was  passed,  it  would  make  1 20,000,  at  the  present  period.  And 
the  sum  taken  from  them  during  this  time  would  amount  with 
interest  to  nine  million  and  a  half  of  dollars.  If  this  money,  or 
even  the  interest  of  it,  was  expended  for  the  benefit  of  those 
to  whom  it  belongs,  it  would  soon  give  a  different  feature  to 
the  character  of  the  seamen  of  the  merchant  service.  If  a  rich 
individual  was  to  withhold  from  a  poor  man  his  wages,  he  would 
merit  the  scorn  and  contempt  of  all  good  men,  but  how  much 
more  unpardonable  must  it  be  in  a  government  or  its  officers,  to 
keep  this  from  seamen.  I  have  been  in  every  sea  port  of  any 
consequence  on  our  sea  coast,  from  Maine  to  Mississippi,  but 
have  never  been  able  to  pick  out  any  institutions  erected 
out  of  this  fund.  The  marine  hospital  at  Chelsea,  near  Boston, 
is  open  for  seamen  of  the  merchant  service,  and  there  they  are 
well  attended  and  every  necessary  furnished  that  men  may  re- 
quire. But  there  they  can  only  remain  four  months,  at  the 
end  of  that  time  they  are  thrust  out  and  their  next  asylum 
is  the  alms  house  ;  at  least  such  would  be  the  case  if  the  let- 
ter of  the  law  was  complied  with,  but  the  physician  has  re- 
peatedly written  to  the  secretary  of  the  treasury,  and  from 
time  to  time  obtained  permission  for  men  to  remain  for  a  long- 
er period  in  this  institution.  Has  obtained  leave  for  sailors  to 
remain  in  an  institution  built  with  their  own  money  !  *     This  is 

*  In  a  small  work  written  some  time  ago  by  Wm.  Sullivan,  Esq.  he 
stated  that  he  had  been  informed  that  the  accommodations  at  the  Chelsea 
hospital  were  very  poor.    This  was  a  mistake ;  the  rooms  or  wards  are 


tQ$  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

the  way  that  seamen  are  treated,  they  are  left  for  support  on 
charitable  institutions,  whereas  if  their  own  hard  earnings  was 
expended  as  they  ought  to  be,  when  sick  or  disabled  they 
w^ould  have  a  house,  and  not  perish  from  want  and  sickness. 
Has  this  nine  milhon  been  taken  to  patch  up  defalcations,  such 
as  those  of  Swartwout  and  Price  ?  If  so,  it  is  high  time  that 
it  should  be  stopped ;  $250,000  annually  is  a  pretty  large  sum 
to  leave  unaccounted  for.  If  by  chance  this  money  is  still  in 
the  treasury,  how  does  it  come  that  we  do  not  hear  of  it? 
and  why  is  the  President  not  solicited  to  distribute  it  as  directed 
by  Congress.  Whenever  an  investigation  takes  place  on  this 
subject,  some  things  will  be  brought  to  light  which  ought  to  have 
been  discovered  years  ago.  I  am  under  the  impression  that  sec- 
retary Woodbury  will  be  put  to  his  trumps  to  rake  up  the  half 
of  nine  million,  instead  of  the  whole  of  this  fund.  That  there 
has  been  unpardonable  neglect,  if  not  mismanagement  and 
peculation  in  this  affair,  cannot  for  a  moment  admit  of  a  doubt. 
While  the  poor  sailor  when  in  distress,  is  thus  left  to  shift 
for  himself,  he  is  shunned  by  those  harpies  who  enrich  them- 
selves at  his  expense  while  in  prosperity.  When  the  seaman 
has  a  dollar  in  his  pocket,  the  distressed  never  apply  to  him  in 
vain.  He  is  as  generous  with  his  cash,  as  he  is  of  his  blood  in 
defence  of  his  country  and  rights.  But  with  all  his  noble  dar- 
ing, his  generosity,  and  good  nature,  he  is  unlawfully  deprived 
of  his  own,  and  feeble  are  the  efforts  made  to  do  him  justice. 
Was  the  like  injustice  done  to  any  other  body  of  men,  their 
case  would  have  given  rise  to  innumerable  meetings,  resolu- 
tions, and  petitions,  and  the  wrong  would  have  been  redressed. 
But  1 20,000  seamen  who  are  deprived  of  vote  or  voice  in  the 
legislature,  must  suffer  injustice  in  silence.  I  have  said  that 
the  same  law  existed  with  regard  to  seamen  and  marines  in 
the  navy,  and  that  the  fund  was  separate  from  that  of  the  mer- 
chant service.  Out  of  the  naval  fund  there  has  been  three 
splendid  buildings  erected,  which  resemble  palaces  more  tliaa 

large,  spacious,  and  airy  ;  and  every  necessary  is  provided  for  the  sick, 
and  every  attention  paid  them  by  the  physician,  and  weie  there  such  es- 
tablishments in  all  our  large  sea-ports  we  could  find  no  fault  in  the  way  of 
hospitals. 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  167 

hospitals  for  seamen.  One  of  them  is  at  Norfolk,  Va.,  one  on 
the  Schuylkill,  west  of  Philadelphia,  where  a  sailor  is  seldom 
seen,  and  the  third  one  is  at  the  Wallabout  on  Long  Island, 
near  New  York.  The  apartments  in  them  for  seamen  are 
comfortably  fitted  up  ;  but  those  intended  for  officers  are  splen- 
did. Mahogany  sofas,  bureaux,  chairs,  and  rich  carpets, 
equalling  any  thing  of  the  kind  to  be  found  in  the  first  drawing 
rooms  in  the  United  States.  Why  officers  should  be  enthled 
to  such  splendid  apartments  in  hospitals  built  with  seamen's 
money,  may  be  answered  by  those  whose  imagination  is  more 
fertile  in  divination  than  my  own.  Was  the  hospital  fund 
raised  by  a  certain  per  centage  on  the  pay  of  individuals  in 
the  navy,  then  would  officers  pay  the  most  towards  it,  accord- 
ing to  their  number  ;  but  as  it  is,  the  seaman  pays  as  much 
out  of  his  eight  dollars  per  month,  as  the  commodore  does  out 
of  his  three  hundred  and  seventy-five,  and  therefore  ought  to  be 
entitled  to  the  same  accommodations.  The  apartments  for 
officers  in  these  hospitals  are  all  separate,  according  to  their 
rank,  and  occupy  a  great  portion  of  the  buildings ;  while  the 
seamen's  cots  and  plain  camp  stool  seats,  are  huddled  together 
as  if  to  form  the  extreme  of  contrast  with  the  sofas,  mirrors, 
and  tables  of  the  superiors. 

There  is  another  of  these  splendid  hospitals  built  at  Chelsea, 
near  the  navy  yard,  Charlestown,  Mass.  and  every  article  neces- 
sary for  such  an  institution  has  been  purchased  for  it,  although 
it  has  only  been  occupied  for  a  short  time.  At  present  the 
sick  are  huddled  into  a  close  confined  dirty  chapel,  and  the 
excuse  for  not  using  the  hospital  is,  that  seamen  desert  from  it. 
After  many  thousand  dollars  have  been  expended  in  the  erec- 
tion of  the  building,  wise  heads  have  ascertained  that  seamen 
would  run  away  if  sent  there  !  I  would  ask  some  of  the  great 
ones  whether  or  not  their  heads  are  capable  of  containing  more 
than  one  idea !  and  whether  a  fence  could  not  be  built  at  a 
very  trifling  expense  to  prevent  men  running  away,  and  in  the 
meantime,  or  until  a  fence  was  built,  could  not  a  marine  guard 
keep  seamen  within  its  walls  ?  It  would  be  paying  a  poor 
compliment  to  the  marine  corps  to  say  they  could  not.  At 
present  the  seamen  of  the  marine  hospital  are  ten  times  better 


168  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

provided  for  than  the  seamen  in  the  naval  hospital,  and  there 
are  no  quarters  at  the  present  naval  hospital  suitable  for  officers 
at  all.  Jf  they  are  sick  they  must  remain  at  their  lodgings  and 
be  attended  by  the  surgeon  of  the  station,  and  every  thing  ex- 
cept medicine  they  must  pay  for  themselves. 

In  these  hospitals  none  but  the  seamen  of  the  navy  are 
admitted,  and  that  can  only  be  done  by  an  order  from  the  com- 
mandant of  the  navy  yard  where  the  hospitals  are  situated.  If 
a  sailor  is  discharged  from  the  navy  and  taken  sick,  who  is  go- 
ing to  the  commodore  to  solicit  a  permit  for  to  get  him  into  the 
hospital  ?  If  he  has  money  they  will  keep  him  until  that  is 
gone,  and  then  thrust  him  out  of  doors;  even  if  an  application 
was  made  for  that  purpose,  the  commodore  would  possibly  re- 
quire more  certificates  as  to  who  the  man  was,  than  could  be 
procured.  These  hospitals  may  be  an  ornament  to  the  places 
where  they  are  erected,  but  the  benefit  that  seamen  will  derive 
from  them  will  not  be  great ;  and  I  scarcely  know  under  what 
contingency,  we  could  expect  to  see  half  men  enough  in  them  to 
fill  them.  There  are  few  men-of-war's  men  who  live  to  be  old 
enough,  to  render  them  unfit  for  service  by  age.  Their  hard 
laborious  life,  cause  them  to  find  a  grave,  but  too  often,  in  a 
foreign  land,  or  a  shroud  from  the  sea  weeds  under  the  wave. 
There  are  in  the  navy  at  present  about  8,500  seamen,  marines, 
&c.  and  1,160  officers,  making  in  all,  9,960,  at  twenty  cents  • 
per  month,  will  give  an  annual  amount  of  .^* 23,904  which  is 
by  no  means  a  small  sum  to  be  taken  from  them  and  given  to 
institutions  from  which  not  more  than  one  in  twenty  will  ever 
derive  any  benefit. 

The  difference  between  seamen's  and  officers'  quarters  in 
hospitals  would  not  be  a  matter  of  much  consequence,  but  the 
same  unequal  distribution  extends  to  the  good  things  of  the 
hospital  department,  on  board  of  the  ships.  There  is  abun- 
dance of  wines,  porter,  and  other  things  of  the  sort,  furnished 
for  the  use  of  the  sick,  on  board  of  ships  in  commission ;  but  in 
the  course  of  eleven  years,  I  declare,  with  the  greatest  regard 
to  truth,  that  I  never  saw  or  knew  a  half  dozen  of  wine  to  be 
given  to  the  crews  during  that  period ;  but  I  have  known  a 
commissioned  officer  allowed  a  bottle  of  porter  every  day,  and 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  169 

a  bottle  of  wine  every  two  days,  when  he  was  sick  with  a  dis- 
ease that  he  had  brought  on  himself.  The  only  article  that 
sailors  usually  receive,  if  very  sick,  is  a  little  sago  or  arrow  root^ 
and  then  it  is  very  seldom  that  any  wine  is  put  into  it,  to  make 
it  palatable.  I  never  can  forget  what  I  heard  a  dying  man  say, 
on  board  the  Lexington,  at  Buenos  Ayres  When  the  doctor 
was  very  anxious  to  do  something  for  him,  he  replied,  "  It's  too 
late,  now,  doctor ;  if  you  had  tried  to  do  something  before,  you 
might  have  done  me  good  ;  but  now  it's  too  late*  I  want  my 
will  made  out,  and  my  wages  left  to  my  mother :  she  lives  in 
Richmond,  Va."  These  were  nearly  the  last  words  he  spoke  ; 
in  an  hour  he  was  a  corpse.  Deny  this  who  can.  There  are 
generally  chickens  put  on  board  for  the  use  of  the  sick,  but  it 
rarely  happens  that  any  of  them  ever  find  their  way  to  the 
mouth  of  a  seaman.  If  a  chicken  dies,  during  the  day  or  night, 
it  is  sure  to  be  one  belonging  the  doctor — at  least,  it  is  put  into 
his  coop,  by  the  cabin  or  ward-room  steward,  and  a  live  one 
taken  out  and  put  into  their  own — as  these  worthies  take  par- 
ticular delight  in  weathering  the  doctor,  and  keeping  their  own 
stock  good.  A  coroner's  inquest  will  be  held  under  the  fore- 
castle, who  will  report  that  the  doctor's  chicken  came  to  its 
death  by  some  cause  unknown,  and  the  body  is  committed  to 
the  sharks.  Pandora's  box  holds  nothing  that  does  not  fall  to 
the  lot  of  the  doctor's  fowls,  on  board  of  a  ship  of  war. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

Promotion  for  privates  in  the  navy— masters'  mates—duties  of  passed 
midshipmen  — second  masters  and  passed  midshipmen,  different  from 
each  other— conduct  of  the  navy  department  with  regard  to  promo- 
tion— leaving  seamen  in  foreicjn  jails— Havana— the  conduct  of  our 
consul  there— two  men  of  the  Constellation— their  sufferings— remarks 
on  the  want  of  laws  to  i)rotect  seamen  from  outrages— letters  from  the 
Boston  Atlas— popularity  in  the  navy,  and  reasons  for  publishing  this 
work. 

As  long  as  the  chances  for  promotion  in  the  navy  are  so 
small  as  they  are  at  the  present  day,  no  young  American,  who 
15 


170  fit^ILS    AJTD    ABUSES    IN    THE 

has  any  ambition,  will  enter  it ;  for  no  matter  how  deserving  of 
capable  he  may  be,  there  is  no  promotion  for  him,  except  it 
may  be  to  the  rank  of  gunner  or  boatswain — nor  can  that  be 
obtained,  unless  by  many  years  servitude — and  when  obtained, 
it  is  a  life  of  constant  toil.  They  come  home,  from  a  three 
years  cruise,  get  three  months  leave  of  absence,  and  then  off  to 
sea  again.  The  very  limited  number  of  these  officers  gives  a 
chance  to  one  in  five  hundred  of  the  seamen  in  the  navy  to  at- 
tain that  rank  annually,  which  must  give  great  hopes  to  aspiring 
young  men ;  one  will  attain  the  goal,  and  four  hundred  and 
ninety-nine  l3e  disappointed.  To  the  rank  of  petty  officer,  one 
in  eight  will  be  appointed  in  three  years.  The  old  grade  of 
masters'  mates  is  now  entirely  extinct:  they  were  generally 
seamen,  appointed  to  that  rank,  which  was  equal  to  a  mate's 
berth  in  the  merchant  service.  When  the  pay  bill  was  passed 
by  Congress,  provision  was  made  for  warranted  masters'  mates  ; 
but  why  a  law  was  made  relative  to  a  grade  that  does  not  and 
is  not  likely  to  exist,  must  be  left  to  others  to  determine.  Had 
this  grade  been  such  as  would  have  enabled  the  department  to 
have  filled  it  up  with  the  particular  friends  of  particular  admin- 
istration men,  it  would  have  been  quickly  filled,  instead  of  be- 
ing permitted  to  dwindle  into  nothingness  ;  but  as  masters' 
mates  would  have  to  be  made  from  the  rank  and  file  of  the 
navy,  promoting  them  would  be  doing  a  virtuous  action,  which 
our  government  seldom  performs  towards  those  under  its  con- 
trol. The  duty  of  a  master's  mate  is  to  look  after  the  hold, 
stowage  of  water  tanks,  casks  and  provisions,  and  taking  care  of 
the  cables  and  other  articles,  coming  under  the  charge  of  the 
sailing  master.  Masters'  mates  of  the  main,  lower,  and  orlop 
decks,  of  ships  of  the  line — of  the  main  and  berth  decks  of 
frigates,  and  berth  decks  of  smaller  vessels,  might  be  deserving 
men,  appointed  from  among  the  crews,  as  in  the  case  of  boat- 
swains and  gunners;  but  at  present  our  passed  midshipmen, 
who  are  growing  grey,  waiting  for  promotion,  have  (after  serv- 
ing five  years  as  midshipmen,  and  passed  a  severe  examination) 
to  learn,  in  addition  to  what  they  already  know,  to  retail  stink- 
ing whiskey  by  the  gill,  and  the  mystery  of  sweeping  the  decks 
and  whitewashing  overhead,  cleaning  the  iron  hoops  on  mess 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  171 

kidds,  cans  and  spit-boxes,  and  superintending  the  tasteful  ar- 
rangement of  mess  platters,  &:c.  in  the  mess  chests.  Now 
these  are  accomplishments  which  cannot  be  deemed  necessary 
to  the  formation  of  the  character  of  an  officer  or  gentleman.  In 
fact  our  passed  midshipmen  are  no  more  than  boss  whitewash- 
ers,  bag  stowers,  sweepers  and  scourers — pretty  employment 
for  young  aspirants  after  naval  glory — isn't  it?  But  as  the 
government  is  letting  them  become  grey-headed,  and  the  fath- 
ers of  families,  before  it  promotes  them,  it  very  properly  in- 
structs them  in  the  above  mentioned  necessary  household  du- 
ties. It  seems  to  strike  me  forcibly,  that  it  were  better  to  let 
these  officers  go  into  the  country,  if  their  leave-of-absence  pay 
will  not  support  them  in  a  city,  and  conduct  country  belles  to 
and  from  the  church  or  village  ball,  and  thereby  keep  the  rust 
off  their  manners,  than  it  is  to  keep  them  superintending  a  par- 
cel of  cooks,  polishing  iron  hoops,  &ic. ;  and  there  let  them  in- 
hale the  fresh  air,  which  would  be  better  for  their  health  than 
inhaling  dust  and  lime,  at  every  respiration,  on  a  berth  deck. 

When  passed  midshipman  G.  M.  W was  appointed  to  a 

station  of  this  kind,  on  board  of  the  Concord,  he  requested  us 
never  to  call  him  an  officer,  but  to  designate  him  as  a  retailer 
of  the  rye.  To  make  a  young  officer  attend  serving  to  others 
what  he  does  not  use  himself,  and  the  smell  of  which  pains  him, 
must  be  unpardonable.  If  there  is  no  other  employment  for 
him,  the  secretary  of  the  navy  might,  with  as  much  propriety, 
order  him  to  attend  bar,  in  a  grog  shop.  That  it  is  necessary 
that  some  person  should  attend  to  those  duties,  will  be  admit- 
ted ;  but  why  not  let  it  be  done  by  master's  mates,  and  thereby 
give  a  chance  of  promotion  to  the  petty  officers  or  seamen  ? 

There  is  another  rank  which  is  not  filled,  that  is,  second 
masters.  It  never  was  the  intention  of  the  law  that  these 
should  be  passed  midshipmen,  although  they  now  perform  that 
duty.  The  law  allows  a  second  master,  when  attached  to  a 
vessel  for  sea  service,  ^750  per  annum ;  on  other  duty,  $500 ; 
on  leave  of  absence,  or  waiting  orders,  $*400.  The  pay  of  a 
passed  midshipman  is,  on  duty,  $750  per  annum ;  waiting  or- 
ders, $600.  So  that  a  passed  midshipman,  doing  the  duty  of  a 
ffecond  master,  would  receive  no  more  pay ;  but  on  leave  of  ab- 


172  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

sence,  or  waiting  orders,  would  be  a  loser  of  ^200  per  annum. 
If  the  department  will  not  understand  these  things,  and  inter- 
pret the  laws  of  Congress  as  they  are  written,  why,  it  ought  to 
be  made  to  do  so — that 's  all.  The  grades  of  second  master 
and  passed  midshipman  are  entirely  different,  and  ought  to  be 
acted  upon  as  such.  Masters'  mates  ought  to  be  made  so  as  to 
give  the  meritorious  some  hopes  of  promotion,  and  thereby  cre- 
ate emulation,  and  ambition  to  excel  and  render  themselves 
worthy  of  it.  The  law  fixed  the  pay  of  warranted  masters' 
mates  at  $440  per  annum,  on  duty,  and  ,$300,  while  on  leave 
of  absence.  Since  that  time  the  department  has  fixed  the  pay 
of  masters'  mates,  not  being  warrant  officers,  at  twenty-five  dol- 
lars per  month.  What  is  the  meaning  of  either,  when  there 
are  none  in  the  service?  There  are  some  things  about  the 
navy  department  "  never  dream'd  of  in  my  philosophy."  In 
the  merchant  service  there  is  every  chance  for  a  young  man, — 
let  him  persevere,  and  success  is  sure  to  follow — all  depends 
upon  his  own  exertions — in  six  years  he  may  be  master  of  a 
vessel ;  but  in  the  navy  he  can  only  rise  to  the  rank  of  a  petty 
officer,  and  one  in  five  hundred  to  the  rank  of  boatswain  or 
gunner,  and  these  cannot  be  obtained  under  eight  or  ten  years 
servitude.  Young  men  can  judge  of  these  things,  and  never 
will  enter  the  navy  until  some  greater  reward  is  laid  open  for 
them  to  attain.  Will  not  the  government  correct  some  of  the 
blunders  that  it  has  stumbled  on,  and  do  an  act  of  long-delayed 
justice  ? 

As  this  was  intended  to  be  the  last  chapter,  I  condensed  it 
as  much  as  possible — for  much  that  ought  to  be  taken  notice  of, 
must  remain  for  a  second  edition :  but  there  is  one  evil,  of  so 
pernicious  a  nature,  that  it  must  not  be  overlooked — that  is,  the 
imprisoning  of  American  seamen  in  foreign  ports.  In  doing  so 
I  will  not  carry  my  reader  to  a  far  distant  land,  to  point  out 
instances  of  the  outrages  upon  seamen  from  this  cause — and  by 
taking  a  foreign  port  as  near  as  possible,  it  will  give  a  better 
opportunity  to  the  consul  (for  upon  him  1  shall  fix  the  crime) 
to  refute  my  assertions  if  he  can  do  so — that  is,  if  any  of  his 
friends  should  send  him  a  copy  of  my  work.  So  I  shall  take 
the  port  of  Havana,  of  which  N.  P.  Trist  is  consul. 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT   SERVICE.  173 

A  judge  of  one  of  the  inferior  courts  in  Philadelphia,  lately, 
where  a  case  of  this  kind  was  tried,  gave  a  seaman  his 
wages,  who  had  been  left  in  jail  in  Rio  de  Janeiro ;  an  appeal 
was  made  by  the  defendant  to  the  supreme  court,  and  the 
judge  of  it  fully  confirmed  the  sentence  of  the  lower  court, 
and  said  that  had  the  case  been  tried  before  him  he  would  even 
have  went  further,  and  given  damages  as  well  as  wages.  The 
judge  of  one  of  the  courts  remarked  that  never  had  he  known 
a  consul  to  refuse  a  master  of  a  vessel  a  certificate  for  impris- 
oning a  man,  where  they  had  been  applied  to,  and  that  those 
certificates,  where  he  presided,  would  never  have  any  more 
weight  than  ex-parie  statements,  for  he  said  that  consuls  had 
no  salary  and  were  merely  commercial  agents,  and  would  do 
all  in  their  power  to  oblige  masters  of  vessels  who  were  their 
employers,  or  who  could  make  favorable  representations  in 
their  behalf:  he  further  said  that  every  petty  disturbance  on 
board  of  a  vessel  was  used  as  a  pretence  for  incarcerating  a 
seaman  in  prison  in  an  unhealthy  climate,  and  that  consuls  per- 
mitted them  to  do  so  on  the  strength  of  the  statements  made 
by  the  master  or  officers,  who  were  as  often  in  fault  as  the  sea- 
men. Nothing,  he  said,  short  of  an  actual  attempt  to  deprive 
the  master  of  a  ship  of  his  command,  would  justify  imprisoning 
and  leaving  in  a  foreign  port,  an  American  seaman.  The  law 
vested  a  master  of  a  vessel  with  sufficient  power  to  correct 
offences,  without  resorting  to  such  measures.  Such  was  the 
substance  of  his  remarks,  as  I  read  them  in  the  newspapers. 
Some  occurrences  of  this  nature  passed  under  my  own  obser- 
vation (while  on  the  West  India  station)  in  Havana.  The 
crew  of  the  brig  Otis,  of  Philadelphia,  (Norbury  master)  were 
put  in  prison  there  for  some  offence  or  other,  and  were  com- 
pelled to  labor  as  criminals,  breaking  stone  with  a  shackle  round 
their  ankle,  only  allowed  sufficient  food  to  keep  them  from 
starvation,  and  forced  by  the  Spaniards  to  do  all  the  menial 
duties  of  the  prison.  I  saw  them  while  they  were  at  Castle 
Blanco  ;  Norbury  had  been  there  the  day  previous  to  ask  them 
how  they  liked  their  new  boarding  house,  and  tantalize  them 
with  the  wretchedness  of  their  situation.  I  gave  them  all  the 
money  I  had  (three  dollars)  to  purchase  food,  and  never  have 
15* 


174^  EVILS  AND  ABUSES  IN  THE 

I  seen  Americans  in  such  a  situation.  They  were  dirty,  covered 
with  vermin,  hair  uncombed,  the  clothes  which  they  had  on 
were  in  rags,  and  they  were  not  allowed  to  get  any  of  their 
own  from  the  vessel.  One  dollar  of  the  money  I  gave  them 
they  had  to  give  to  the  mayoral,  or  boss  driver,  to  keep  the 
prisoners  from  taking  the  rest  from  them.  These  men,  for 
some  petty  offence,  were  confined  among,  and  forced  to  labor 
the  same  as  men  stained  with  the  darkest  crimes.  The  consul 
had  never  seen  them,  but  had  ordered  them  to  be  confined,  on 
the  strength  of  the  master's  representation  ;  and  yet  that  man 
still  remains  in  office,  and  as  I  heard,  has  lately  imprisoned  the 
master  of  a  vessel.  A  poor  seaman  is  a  mere  cypher,  but  a 
ship  master  is  somebody,  and  he  may  be  brought  up  at  last, 
with  a  round  turn,  and  the  punishment  that  I  would  award  him 
for  the  whole  of  his  crimes,  would  be  one  week's  confinement 
in  the  same  manner  and  place  that  he  has  confined  others  who 
were  less  guilty  than  his  vile  self.  For  this  violation  of  the 
law  the  master  was  sued  in  Philadelphia,  and  damages  recov- 
ered. On  a  subsequent  voyage  he  had  men  confined  again  in 
Havana,  but  owing  to  an  order  issued  by  the  Captain  General, 
(Tacon,)  they  were  not  sent  to  labor,  as  his  order  forbid  the 
like,  except  to  such  as  had  received  sentence  from  a  judicial 
tribunal.  Before  the  Otis  sailed,  they  were  taken  on  board  and 
put  in  irons.  Finding  that  they  could  not  be  terrified  by  this 
means,  Norbury  discharged  them  in  the  consul's  office,  as  he 
was  afraid  to  take  them  to  Philadelphia,  for  fear  of  the  dam- 
ages that  they  could  have  recovered,  and  the  displeasure  of 
his  owners.  The  three  month's  pay,  which  the  law  directs  to 
be  paid  into  the  consul's  hands,  two  months  of  which  the  sea- 
man is  entitled  to  when  discharged  in  a  foreign  port,  was  not 
received  by  them,  it  was  comprised  between  Norbury  and  the 
consul  ;  but  the  former  had  to  pay  the  jail  expenses  himself,  as 
well  as  paying  them  up  to  the  day  of  settlement. 

Two  seamen  from  the  Commodore's  gig  of  the  frigate  Con- 
stellation left  the  boat  on  the  morning  that  she  sailed  from  Ha- 
vana, got  drunk,  and  the  ship  left  them  behind.  They  went 
to  sleep  in  the  house  of  a  Spaniard,  he  put  a  watch  into  one 
of  their  pockets,  and  then  waked  them  up,  and  accused  them 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  175 

of  theft,  when  they  searched  their  pockets  and  found  the  watch. 
They  had  no  knowledge  of  how  it  came  there,  and  offered  to 
return  it,  but  the  Spaniard  refused  to  receive  it  unless  they  gave 
him  four  dollars,  which  they  refused  to  do.  During  the  time 
they  had  been  asleep  he  had  stolen  from  them  all  the  change 
they  had  in  their  pockets ;  but  each  of  them  had  a  little  bag 
slung  around  his  neck  (as  seamen  usually  have)  in  which  there 
were  a  few  dollars,  and  as  they  would  not  give  him  that  too,  he 
had  them  arrested  and  put  in  jail,  where  they  were  kept  at 
hard  labor,  breaking  stones,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  crew  of 
the  Otis,  with  scarcely  a  rag  to  cover  their  nakedness  except 
such  as  they  received  from  the  American  sailors  who  sometimes 
visited  them,  on  Sundays.  Their  food  consisted  of  a  small 
loaf,  weighing  about  four  ounces,  in  the  morning,  and  one-half 
the  size  in  the  evening ;  at  noon  they  had  a  small  quantity  of 
boiled  beans  and  two  ounces  of  meat.  At  the  end  of  six 
months,  they  were  removed  over  to  Carcel  Nuevo,  or  new 
prison,  on  the  Havana  side,  and  as  the  governor  had  issued  his 
order  already  alluded  to,  they  had  not  to  do  any  more  work  ; 
still  the  Spaniards,  of  which  there  were  upwards  of  three  hun- 
dred in  the  same  gallery,  imposed  the  drudgery  and  menial 
duties  upon  them,  as  they  were  foreigners,  which  consisted  of 
emptying  the  tubs  that  they  used  ;  and  with  the  greatest  diffi- 
culty they  kept  the  Spaniards  from  committing  a  crime  upon 
their  persons  at  which  humanity  and  decency  shudders,  and 
which  I  cannot  mention  to  christian  citizens.  They  remained 
eight  months  in  the  new  prison,  without  any  form  of  trial. 
They  had  written  various  letters  to  the  consul,  but  received  no 
answer,  nor  had  he  ever  came  to  see  them,  nor  sent  them  a 
single  cent,  although  he  knew  them  to  be  starving  and  naked. 
At  length  a  letter  was  written  to  Mr  Trist  in  their  behalf,  by 
a  person  who  shall  be  nameless,  and  he  sent  them  word  that 
they  had  been  tried  for  stealing  a  watch  and  money,  and  that 
as  soon  as  a  vessel  of  war  of  the  Unhed  States  arrived,  they 
would  be  sent  on  board.  This  was  after  having  suffered  four- 
teen months  imprisonment,  without  ever  having  any  trial,  that 
they  knew  of;  and  had  Commodore  Dallas  been  informed  of 
the  fact,  and  the  governor,  Tacon,  requested  to  give  them  up, 


176  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

he  would  have  done  so,  as  the  sequel  plainly  showed.  Even 
admitting  that  they  had  stolen  the  watch,  Tacon  would  have 
given  them  up  to  the  commodore  to  be  punished  by  him  ;  but 
whether  Mr.  Trist  ever  solicited  their  release,  or  informed 
Commodore  Dallas  of  their  situation,  he  is  at  liberty  to  declare. 
From  what  I  know  of  the  humane  and  gentlemanly  disposition 
of  the  commodore,  I  clear  him  of  all  participation  in  the  affair, 
and  charge  the  whole  upon  N.  P.  Trist,  Esq.,  U.  S.  consul  at 
Havana.  Two  seamen  were  sent  home  in  the  Grampus,  to 
Norfolk,  when  I  w^as  gunner  of  her,  to  be  tried  for  some  offence, 
which  goes  to  prove  that  General  Tacon  did  not  wish  to  try 
American  citizens  for  alleged  offences,  who  were  not  residents 
of  the  port,  and  was  ready  to  give  them  up  when  required  to 
do  so  by  the  consul.  1  have  many  similar  charges  against  the 
same  individual,  and  other  consuls,  which,  for  want  of  room,  I 
must  keep  back  ;  but  they  will  serve  to  throw  in  the  face  of 
any  of  his  friends  who  may  attempt  to  justify  him,  or  say  that 
he  has  not  been  guilty  of  crimes  which  ought  to  be  punished 
by  removal  from  office,  as  the  lowest  punishment. 

TO    THE    EDITOR    OF    THE    ATLAS  : 

Sir, — I  send  you  an  extract  of  a  letter,  from  a  Boston  gentleman  at 
Havana — 

"  Captain  Howell  has  gained  his  suit  against  our  American  consul — 
which  was  tried  in  the  Spanish  court,  for  the  detention  of  the  vessel  he 
commanded  last  summer,  and  also  for  damages  arising  from  his  personal 
imprisonment  by  N.  P.  Trist.  The  Spanish  court,  in  giving  in  their  ver- 
dict, state,  that  the  American  consul  exceeded  the  bounds  of  his  authority 
in  meddling  with  the  Spanish  flag,  and  that  he  is  held  liable  for  the  same. 
The  consul  must  sign  the  documents,  and  it  will  make  him  appear  in  no 
very  enviable  character. 

"  It  now  remains  to  be  seen  what  funds  the  consul  has  to  indemnify  the 
damages  sustained  by  Captain  Howell  and  his  Spanish  owners." 

Your  paper  of  May^5th  contained  a  long  account  of  the  imprisonment 
of  American  seamen  at  Havana,  and  the  noble  doings  of  the  officers  and 
crew  of  the  United  States  sloop  of  war  Boston  to  relieve  their  sufferings. 
It  also  expressed  the  desire  of  the  American  residents  and  ship  masters  at 
Havana  that  our  government  would  investigate  the  acts  of  the  consul.  1 
would  ask,  Mr.  Editor,  if  anything  has  been  done  at  Washington  for  the 
removal  of  so  odious  a  character  as  N.  P.  Trist  from  the  consulate. 

An  American. 


naVal  and  merchant  service.  177 

The  following  is  an  extract  of  a  letter  written  by  an  American  gentle- 
man in  Havana,  dated 

April  13,  1839. 

The  United  States  sloop  of  war  Boston,  Captain  Babbitt,  commander,  is 
now  ready  for  sea,  bound  to  New  York.  His  departure  will  be  deeply  re- 
gretted by  every  American,  as  this  distinguished  and  benevolent  officer  has 
rendered  very  important  services  to  the  Americans  incarcerated  here,  and 
underiroing  punishment.  In  consequence  of  the  neglect  and  pusillanimous 
behavior  of  the  United  States  consul,  the  crews  of  several  American  vessels 
are  still  suffering  in  a  Spanish  prison.  Among  these  are  the  crew  of  the 
American  ship  Wm.  Engs,  of  whom  I  have  given  you  an  account  in  a  for- 
mer letter.  They  are  unjustly  still  in  chains,  suffering  punishment  at  hard 
labor,  on  an  accusation  of  mutiny  in  this  harbor.  Captain  Babbitt,  upon 
receiving  a  communication  from  several  hundred  Americans,  applied  to  the 
United  States  consul  for  information  respecting  various  Americans  in  prison, 
undergoing  punishment.  Not  receiving  satisfactory  facts  in  relation  there- 
to, but  on  the  contrary  having  been  given  to  understand  that  his  co-opera- 
tion was  neither  solicited  nor  required.  Captain  Babbitt  immedirtely  ad- 
dressed himself  to  the  captain  general,  for  that  information  which  the  Uni- 
ted States  consul  had,  for  his  own  reputation,  refused  to  give.  The  facts 
elicited  in  the  case  of  the  VVm.  Engs  are,  that  on  the  Uth  of  July,  ultimo, 
the  consul  wrote  to  the  captain  general  asking  a  speedy  trial  by  the  Spanish 
law,  instead  of  sending  them  to  the  United  States, — and  that  in  violation 
of  the  treaty  made  with  fepain,  they  were  not  allowed  an  advocate,  nor 
were  permitted  to  produce  witnesses  favorable  to  their  case — and  neither 
would  the  consul  be  present,  and  see  that  justice  was  done  them,  or  assist 
them  in  any  way,  although  they  often  wrote  to  him  requesting  his  protec- 
tion, and  stating  they  were  Americans. 

In  this  situation.  Captain  Babbitt  finding  the  case  (and  perceiving  that 
the  consul  would  not  interest  himself  in  behalf  of  innocent  men,  and 
being  importuned  by  several  hundreds  of  Americans)  applied  to  the  captain 
general  to  deliver  the  seamen  over  to  him  to  be  carried  to  the  United  States 
for  trial — this  was  refused. 

Captain  Babbitt  and  his  officers  have  acted  nobly.  They  have  interested 
themselves  in  every  honorable  way  to  deliver  these  men  ;  but  I  am  sorry 
to  say,  have  not  succeeded. 

This  morning  Captain  Babbitt  visited  the  Royal  prison  at  the  Punta,  and 
afler  inquiring  of  the  American  prisoners  the  cause  of  their  imprisonment, 
he  assured  them  that  he  was  ever  ready  to  render  such  assistance  as  their 
cases  merited.  Not  finding  the  crew  of  the  Wm.  Engs  there,  he  proceeded 
with  Purser  Southall  and  Mr.  Ferdinand  Clark  to  the  Cabanos,  where  the 
governor  of  the  Castle  brought  before  them  such  Americans  as  were  pres- 
ent. Captain  Babbitt  stated  to  them  that  he  had  labored  to  obtain  their 
liberation  from  their  unjust  punishment — that  he  had  now  submitted  the 
matter  to  the  government  at  home,  but  as  some  time  would  elapse  before 
any  course  could  be  adopted  for  their  release,  he  had  brought  them  a  bag 
of  money,  one  hundred  and  forty-three  dollars,  donated  by  the  officers  and 
crew  of  his  ship,  for  the  purpose  of  relieving  their  present  wants,  and  as  a 
testimony  of  their  sympathy  in  their  behalf— and  that  this  money  he  should  - 
place  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Ferdinand  Clark,  to  be  appropriated  in  moderate 
sums  for  their  daily  support  and  comfort — at  the  same  time  promising  them 
that  he  should  not  relax  his  endeavors  to  have  them  released  as  speedily  as 


178  EYILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE       ' 

possible  ; — and  although  he  should  be  absent  a  short  time,  he  should  not 
forget  them.  The  commodore  was  soon  expected  here,  and  wiould,  no 
doubt,  from  his  known  patriotism,  protect  them,  i&c,  &c.  The  poor  pris- 
oners shed  tears  while  the  gallant  Capt.  Babbitt  addressed  them. 

For  a  long  time  we  have  been  expecting  another  American  consul,  but 
none  has  yet  been  appointed;  but  it  is  believed  that  when  the  United 
States  government  receives  all  Capt.  Babbitt's  documents  in  relation  to  the 
present  occupant,  that  there  will  be  no  further  delay  in  forthwith  sending 
to  this  port  a  consul,  whose  abilities  and  interests  will  protect  the  interests 
of  his  countrymen  here. 

The  conduct  of  N.  P.  Trist,  in  the  affair  of  Purser  Southall  and  others, 
has  been  such,  as  to  compel  Captain  Babbitt  to  write  the  consul  in  the 
severest  terms ;  and  as  the  whole  correspondence  is  to  be  laid  before  the 
government,  we  may  soon  expect  some  important  result.  The  Americans 
here  are  well  satisfied  that  the  present  consul  has  an  unfriendly  feeling  to- 
wards his  countrymen,  and  it  is  hoped  by  all  that  he  may  be  speedily  re- 
moved from  this  important  port. 

We  published,  day  before  yesterday,  a  letter  from  an  American  gentle- 
man in  Havana,  concerning  the  affair  of  the  ship  William  Engs.  The  fol- 
lowing are  extracts  from  letters  by  the  United  States  consul  at  Havana,  in 
relation  to  the  same  matter. 

Consulate  of  th^  U.  S.  of  America. 
Havana,  April  13,  1839. 
To  John  Mills,  Esq.,  Attorney  of  the  U,  S.,  Boston. 

Sir — In  acknowledgment  of  your  favor  of  the  16th  ult.,  which  came  to 
hand  on  the  11th  inst.,  I  have  to  state  that  a  full  report  of  the  case  of  the 
ship  William  Engs  will  be  made  very  shortly  to  the  Secretary  of  State, 
with  the  recommendation  from  me  that  an  application  should  be  made  by 
our  government  to  that  of  Madrid,  for  the  pardon  of  Isaac  Clark  and  his 
comrades,  upon  the  ground  that  though  they  were  convicted  of  a  mutiny 
of  a  very  serious  character  in  this  port,  the  sentence  grounded  thereon  was 
inordinate;  and  further,  that  there  are  circumstances  averred  by  them  (in 
favor  of  which  averments  my  experience  in  the  office  creates  a  decided 
presuniplion)  which,  if  true,  were  justification  of  the  mutin}''.  So,  at 
least,  would  be  my  decision  as  a  judge,  and  my  counsl  as  a  father,  had  I 
(which  Heaven  forbid  !)  a  son  a  sailor  under  our  flag. 

I  am,  sir,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

N,  P.  Trist. 


Extract  from  the  American  consul's  letter,  dated  Havana,  December  18, 
1838. 

Capt.  Edward  B.  Babbitt,  commander  U.  S.  ship  Boston. 

Sir — In  regard  to  the  crew  of  the  Wm.  Engs  the  case  is  different; 
they  were  arrested  by  the  Spanish  authorities,  at  a>call  from  their  captain, 
prosecuted  for  mutiny,  convicted  and  condemned.  "  As  to  the  fact  of  the 
mutiny,"  or  conflict  on  board  the  ship,  there  can  be  no  doubt;  *'with  re- 
gard to  the  origin^''  the  story  told  by  them  is,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  but  too 
probable  on  the  face  of  it,  judging  from  my  experience  of  such  matters. 
If  true,  the  captain  ought  to  be  now  engaged  in  cracking  stones  in  their 
Btead. 


Naval  aNd  merchant  sehtice*  179 

Upon  becoming  aware  of  their  account  of  the  affair,  which  was  not  unti^ 
after  their  condemnation,  ray  belief  in  its  probability  led  me  to  take  steps 
ill  their  behalf,  w^hich  will,  I  hope,  be  attended,  before  long,  with  a  favor- 
able result.  N.  P.  Trist. 

These  remarks  of  mine  were  written  previous  to  my  hav- 
ing seen  the  extracts  which  have  been  made  from  the  Atlas. 
Mr  Trist,  in  his  letter  to  Mr.  Rlills,  says  that  "  there  were 
circumstances  averred  by  them,  which,  if  true,  were  a  justifica- 
tion of  the  mutiny."  In  this  respect  I  must  differ  from  Mr. 
Trist,  I  do  not  know  what  can  justify  mutiny,  and  I  presume 
the  law  would  hesitate  to  accept  of  any  justification.  He  says 
in  his  letter  to  Captain  Babbitt,  that  he  was  not  aware  of  their 
statement  of  the  affair  until  after  their  condemnation.  This 
is  a  plain  confession  of  neglect  of  duty  on  his  part,  for  those 
men  were  not  tried  immediately  after  their  arrest.  The  Span- 
ish courts  never  decide  upon  cases  under  several  months,  and 
it  was  Mr.  Trist's  duty  to  have  seen  those  men  and  provided 
them  counsel  and  such  other  assistance  as  they  required,  but  I 
have  known  many  seamen  confined  in  Havana,  who  wrote  to 
Mr.  Trist,  and  he  never  returned  them  an  answer.  When  I 
was  in  Havana  in  the  spring  of  1837,  the  crew  of  the  Wm. 
Engs  were  in  jail ;  whether  they  are  the  same  men  or  not  I 
cannot  tell,  if  not,  the  captain  of  the  William  Engs  must  be  a 
tyrant,  and  it  will  be  seen  on  his  return  whether  or  not  the 
owners  of  the  ship  will  countenance  such  a  man,  or  show  their 
disapprobation  of  such  villainy  by  dismissing  him  from  the 
vessel. 

From  what  I  have  already  stated  relative  to  the  crew  of  the 
Shylock,  and  the  case  of  Mr.  Nichols,  and  Judge  Story,  some 
may  be  disposed  to  think  that  I  have  overshot  the  mark  by 
being  too  severe ;  but  I  have  made  those  remarks  from  con- 
viction that  the  persons  alluded  to  have  acted  unjustly,  so  much 
so  as  to  make  them  criminals  in  my  opinion  ;  if  wrong,  it  rests 
with  myself  and  conscience,  for  which  1  am  only  amenable  to 
my  maker.  I  deny  the  right  and  justice  of  the  law  which 
vests  a  master  of  a  merchant  vessel  with  authority  to  flog  a 
seaman.  In  the  navy  the  offences  are  pointed  out,  and  the 
degree  of  punishment  to  be  inflicted,  but  in  the  merchant  ser- 


180  EVILS    ANi)    ABUSES    IN    THE 

vice  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  is  the  case,  but  both  are  to 
be  judged  by  the  master.  I  never  was  in  a  merchant  vessel  but 
that  I  performed  a  full  voyage,  and  never  had  a  weapon  of  any 
kind  raised  to  me  ;  but  in  that  respect  I  have  been  more  fortu- 
nate than  many  men  equally  deserving.  Had  it  been  other- 
wise I  should  have  sought  redress  at  the  bar  of  my  country's 
laws ;  had  it  been  denied  me,  I  would  have  sought  it  even  to 
the  cannon's  mouth,  would  have  pursued  my  victim  "  through 
paths  where  wolves  would  fear  to  prey."  The  man  who  would 
take  advantage  of  my  situation  I  would  have  punished  when 
on  a  par  with  him,  or  released  from  his  command.  Of  the 
low  scurrilous  abuse  so  commonly  used  by  some  officers  I  have 
had  my  share,  "  but  words  break  no  bones,"  and  I  wish  that 
all  would  do  as  I  have  done  in  that  respect ;  that  is,  to  take  no 
notice  whatever  of  ungenteel  language.  Our  government  is 
based  upon  the  principle  that  an  injury  to  one  is  an  injury  to 
all.  As  soon  as  one  man  is  vested  with  power  to  flog  another, 
one  stone  is  taken  from  the  base  of  the  constitution,  which  is 
cemented  with  the  blood  of  the  heroes  who  fell  in  the  revolution. 
To  preserve  it  entire  is  the  duty  of  every  American  citizen. 
To  prevent  the  disturbances  which  disgrace  our  merchant  ser- 
vice more  than  that  of  any  other  nation,  it  would  be  necessary 
to  revise  the  whole  marine  law,  which  was  passed  when  our 
commerce  was  young,  and  is  totally  inadequate  to  its  wants  at 
the  present  day  ;  and  it  becomes  a  public  duty  to  enforce  it 
upon  the  consideration  of  Congress  at  as  early  a  period  as  pos- 
sible, for  the  merchants  and  ship  owners  are  annually  great  losers 
by  its  inefficiency.  Giving  a  good  shipmaster  more  authority 
than  he  ever  has  any  occasion  to  use,  is  placing  a  dangerous 
weapon  in  the  hands  of  a  bad  one.  "  It  is  an  old  principle  in 
the  law,  that  freight  is  the  mother  of  wages.  If  a  ship  does 
not  earn  freight,  seamen  do  not  earn  wages.  If  a  vessel  goes 
to  a  port  in  ballast  a  seaman  earns  no  wages."  This  is  great  in- 
justice. '^  If  a  shipmaster  wilfully  and  maliciously  forces  a 
seaman  on  shore,  and  leaves  him  in  a  foreign  country,  or  if  he 
does  not  force  him  on  shore,  but  leaves  him  behind,  and  re- 
fuses to  bring  him  home,  such  captain  is  liable  to  fine  and  im- 
prisonment, besides  paying  damages  to  the  seaman."     These, 


NAVAL   AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  181 

and  many  olher  evils^  that  I  have  passed  over  for  want  of  space> 
(as  an  enumeration  of  them  all  would  go  beyond  the  limits  1 
have  proposed  for  the  present  edition,)  are  not  forgotten  by  me, 
and  much  require  amendment.  It  often  happens  that  when 
seamen  want  to  leave  a  vessel  the  master  pays  their  wages 
and  allows  them  to  go  on  shore  at  noon  day,  and  then  say» 
that  they  have  run.  This  is  most  generally  done  when  the 
wages  are  lower  at  the  port  where  the  seamen  leave,  than  what 
they  were  receiving ;  others  are  shipped  in  their  place,  the 
difference  goes  into  the  master's  pocket,  and  the  protection, 
which  he  keeps,  is  made  to  answer  for  foreigners*  This  re- 
quires particular  notice,  as  protections  are  national  affairs,  and 
they  ought  to  be   given  and  used  with   the  greatest  caution* 

With  regard  to  the  foregoing  declarations  respecting  the  navy, 
they  are  not  hap-hazard  assertions,  nor  the  exaggerations  of 
fiction,  conjured  up  to  carry  a  point,  nor  are  they  the  rhapso- 
dies of  enthusiasm,  nor  crude  conclusions  jumped  at  by  hasty 
and  imperfect  investigation,  nor  the  aimless  outpourings  either 
of  sympathy  or  poetry  ;  but  they  are  the  proclamation  of  de- 
liberate, well  weighed  convictions,  produced  by  experience  and 
proof,  which,  if  necessary,  can  be  sustained  by  the  affirmations 
and  affidavits  of  thousands  who  have  seen  all,  and  much  more, 
than  I  have  described.  No  doubt,  unless  deprived  of  the 
weapon,  some  will  say  that  the  letters  of  thanks  very  often 
published  by  a  committee  of  the  crews  of  ships,  expressing 
their  thanks  for  the  kindness  they  have  received  from  their 
commanders  and  officers,  gives  the  lie  direct  to  my  assertions. 
I  must  say  that  many  of  these  letters  are  glorious  humbug.  It 
must  be  gratifying  to  the  feelings  of  good  officers  when  these 
tokens  of  friendship  are  fairly  received.  When  they  are  ob- 
tained by  indirect  means  and  insinuations,  they  are  a  fraud.  I 
shall  relate  two  instances  of  the  latter,  and  then  let  the  matter 
rest. 

When  we  returned  from  the  Mediterranean  in  the  L- 


in  1830,  the  crew  were  discharged,  and  some  time  afterwards 
a  letter  appeared  in  the  Norfolk  Beacon,  or  Herald,  giving  the 
commander  and  first  lieutenant  thanks  for  their  kindness  and 
lenity.  This  letter  was  signed  by  three  petty  officers^  said  to 
16 


182  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

be  a  committee  selected  by  the  crew  for  that  purpose.  There 
never  was  a  greater  falsehood  !  could  men  thank  a  commander 
who  would  inflict  two  dozen  lashes  for  the  offence  of  which 
none  were  oftener  guilty  than  himself?  Could  they  return  thanks 
to  a  first  lieutenant  who  gave  them  two  and  three  dozen  over 
the  bare  back  with  a  piece  of  eighteen  thread  ratline,  when 
the  captain  was  absent  ?  The  letter  was  got  up  by  one  who 
had  good  right  to  be  grateful.  He  was  an  Englishman  that  we 
shipped  in  Smyrna,  who  had  never  seen  the  United  States,  and 
was  rated  a  quarter  master,  by  those  he  praised,  as  if  there 
had  been  no  Americans  in  the  ship.  And  after  all,  he  was 
useless  trash,  and  got  two  other  men,  one  a  drunken  quarter 
gunner,  to  put  their  mark  to  the  paper,  ignorant  of  its  contents. 
Many  of  the  crew  had  gone  off  and  others  shipped  in  the  ser- 
vice again  before  the  letter  came  out ;  but  such  as  did  see  it 
would  have  torn  the  caitiff's  liver  out  who  wrote  it  if  he  could 
have  been  found.  Another  of  the  same  kind  was  sent  to 
Captain  D.  when  he  relinquished  the  command  of  the  same 
ship  to  Captain  McKeever,  on  the  coast  of  Brazil,  and  a  copy 
sent  home  with  him  to  be  published  in  the  same  paper.  Some 
months  afterwards  the  paper  was  received  by  G.  G.  William- 
son, at  that  time  our  saihng  master,  and  that  was  the  first  time 
that  any  but  the  writers  ever  heard  of  it,  and  the  crew  were  in 
a  rage.  The  man  who  had  flogged  another  until  the  doctor 
interfered,  as  has  been  already  related,  could  not  make  syco- 
phants of  two  hundred  men,  and  make  tliem  kiss  the  hand 
that  dealt  them  death.  I  have  served  in  the  navy  long,  and 
the  esteem  and  regard  that  I  feel  for  many  of  its  officers  will 
go  to  my  grave  with  me.  Although  I  am  no  longer  amongst 
them,  yet  I  feci  as  much  regard  as  they  ever  can,  for  its  wel- 
fare, and  this  exposure  has  been  made  with  a  view  to  make  it 
more  perfect,  and  to  place  "a  round,  unvarnished  tale''  of  facts 
before  the  people  of  the  United  States,  who  alone,  through 
their  representatives,  can  make  the  required  alterations,  and 
insist  on  some  plan  for  bettering  the  condition  of  seamen.  As 
for  any  hints  respecting  the  navy  commissioners  and  former 
secretaries  of  the  navy,  I  can  only  say  that  to  get  praise  from 
me,  (whatever  that  praise  may  be  worth)  they  must  first  de- 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  183 

serve  it.  "  For  neither  pension,  post  nor  place,  am  I  their 
humble  debtor."  Some  may  say  that  this  production  is  the 
effusion  of  a  disappointed  man,  as  I  was  dismissed  from  the 
navy  when  gunner ;  this  weapon  too,  I  want  to  deprive  them  of 
by  stating  that  case,  in  order  to  set  those  officers  right  respect- 
ing the  affair,  who  only,  perhaps,  heard  the  sentence  of  the 
court,  and  those  officers  that  were  on  board  at  the  time,  may 
correct  me  if  I  deviate  from  the  truth,  in  stating  the  occur- 
rence to  the  public. 


I 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

Court  Tnartial— charges— -conduct  of  the  court — witnesses— John 
Beggs — his  character  and  testimony — advice  to  JohnB — d — e  —  kind- 
ness of  Commodore  A.  J.  Dallas  and  Lt.  Henry  A.  Adams — remarks 
and  conclusion. 

It  can  be  proved,  if  necessary,  by  letters  written  to  my  wife 
previous  to  my  dismissal,  that  it  had  been  my  intention  to 
leave  the  navy  and  join  the  cause  of  an  oppressed  people  at 
that  time  struggling  for  their  independence  against  a  powerful 
nation  who  had  vowed  to  wage  a  war  of  extermination  against 
them,  even  to  the  scalping  knife.  For  some  slight  reproof 
from  the  first  Lieut,  of  the  U.  S.  ship  Concord,  to  which  ship 
[  was  attached,  lying  in  the  harbor  of  Havana,  about  the  4th 
of  Nov.  1836,  I  determined  to  put  my  intentions  in  execution, 
and  for  that  purpose  1  wrote  to  Commodore  A.  J.  Dallas,  then 
on  board,  to  accept  of  my  resignation,  or  to  permit  me  to  return 
to  the  United  States  in  order  to  tender  it  myself  to  the  proper 
authority.  Lieut.  Adams  informed  me  by  letter,  that  he  was 
directed  by  the  commodore  to  inform  me  that  my  request  could 
not  be  complied  with.  1  then  wrote  to  the  commodore  to  say- 
that  my  reasons  were  of  a  private  and  confidential  nature,  and  if 
I  could  see  him  privately  they  would  be  explained.  To  this 
no  reply  was  made.  I  then  wrote  a  third  to  say  that  in  be- 
coming an  officer  I  still  retained  the  rights  of  a  citizen,  and 


f84  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

was  constrained  to  say,  that  unless  permitted  to  resign,  I  should 
decline  doing  any  more  duty  on  board  the  ship.  Immediately 
after  this  letter  had  been  received,  I  was  suspended  from  duty. 
On  that  evening  I  had  an  engagement  on  shore  that  1  could 
not  break,  without  forfeiting  my  word  solemnly  pledged,  and 
in  order  to  keep  it,  I  attempted  to  leave  the  ship  without  per- 
misssion,  but  was  prevented  from  doing  so  by  the  officer  of  the 
deck  ;  when  reported  to  the  commodore  that  such  had  been  my 
intention,  I  was  arrested  and  a  sentinel  placed  at  my  state- 
room door.  I  had  not  attempted  to  break  an  arrest  but  merely 
a  suspension,  as  I  had  not  been  arrested  previously.  After 
three  or  four  days  passed  away  and  no  charges  sent  me,  I  con- 
cluded that  1  was  not  to  be  tried  by  a  court  martial,  as  I  had  at 
first  expected,  for  the  law  directs  that  when  an  officer  is  to  be 
tried,  a  copy  of  his  charges  must  be  sent  him  within  forty -eight 
hours  aft er^ his  arrest.  Not  having  received  such  charges,  I 
wrote  an  explanatory  letter  to  the  officers,  in  order  to  elucidate 
my  conduct  on  the  night  that  I  attempted  to  leave  the  ship. 
What  was  my  astonishment  on  the  10th  to  receive  a  copy  of 
my  charges,  with  a  letter  stating  that  a  court  martial  would 
convene  for  my  trial  on  the  14th,  and  one  of  the  charges  was 
grounded  upon  confessions  and  explanations  made  in  my  letter 
to  the  officers,  and  which  I  had  looked  upon  as  one  of  a  confi- 
dential nature.  On  the  morning  of  the  13th  (Sunday)  the 
articles  which  I  had  in  my  state-room  belonging  to  the  gun- 
ners' department  were  removed,  and  by  that  act  I  was  told  as 
plain  as  if  spoken  in  words,  that  I  never  was  to  have  any  more 
official  control  over  them,  and  that  "  the  glory  had  departed 
from  Israel."  The  first  1/ieut.  then  informed  me  that  I  was  at 
liberty  to  speak  to  or  send  for  any  individual  that  I  wanted. 
Before  that  time  I  had  not  been  allowed  to  speak  to  any 
person  but  my  servant  who  brought  my  victuals  into  my  room, 
which  was  an  arbitrary  and  unnecessary  restriction.  Monday 
morning  came  bright  and  clear  with  the  wind  from  the  land. 
All  nature  seemed  gay, ;  the  town  of  Matanzas,  where  we 
were  then  laying,  seemed  as  quiet  and  still  as  if  nothing  was  to 
happen,  the  decks  had  been  washed  and  dried  as  usual,  and  as 
I  passed  to  the  water  closet,  the  poor  tars  got  out  of  my  way 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  185 

quicker,  and  looked  upon  me  with  more  respect  than  they 
would  if  I  had  been  in  all  my  glory,  instead  of  being  shorn  of 
my  splendor.  How  different  it  is  with  political  office  holders  ? 
the  iijoment  that  they  are  deprived  of  power,  their  satelites  fly 
them,  and  pay  court  to  their  successors.  JNot  so  with  the 
generous  tars  of  the  navy.  Four  bells,  (ten  o'clock,  A.  M.) 
was  struck,  the  jack  was  hoisted  at  the  mizen,  and  the  report 
of  a  twenty-four  pounder,  that  had  often  roared  to  the  apphca- 
tion  of  the  match  by  my  own  hand,  gave  warning  that  the 
farce  was  about  to  commence.  The  roar  of  the  cannon  rolled 
away  among  the  mountains  like  distant  thunder,  and  the  jack 
hung  listlessly  at  the  mizen  mast  head,  like  the  raven  flapping 
his  funeral  wing.  I  had  heard  and  fired  many  guns  before, 
and  afterwards  saw  and  heard  them  fired  where  they  carried  the 
iron  globe  of  death,  which  accompanied  its  course  with  the 
tearing  of  the  plank,  cutting  of  the  rigging  and  spars,  and  the 
cries  and  groans  of  the  dying  and  wounded,  but  never  did  any 
have  the  effect  upon  my  heart  that  that  one  had,  and  yet  I 
was  indifferent  as  to  the  consequence,  as  the  power  of  the  court 
could  only  extend  to  dismissal.  Not  so  with  the  poor  seaman 
who  goes  before  such  a  tribunal ;  he  turns  pale  when  he  knows 
that  the  very  flesh  can  be  cut  from  his  back  by  that  barbarous 
instrument  of  punishment,  the  lash,  by  those  whom  he  thinks  his 
fellow  men.  Alas  !  their  feelings,  sympathies,  all  are  different. 
So  different  as  to  appear  made  by  difierent  hands,  and  of  differ- 
ent materials,  instead  of  having  one  common  father,  one  parent 
earth.  The  court  was  held  on  the  poop,  the  awning  and  side 
curtains  had  been  spread,  a  table  placed  there  with  the  prayer 
book  and  writing  materials.  The  members  met  in  full  dress, 
and  I  appeared  in  the  same.  The  president  was  Lieut.  Mc- 
intosh, then  commanding  the  schooner  Grampus,  Lieuts.  Stal- 
lings  and  Cox,  of  the  same  vessel,  Lieuts.  Wm.  Howard  and 
Thos.  Lieb,  of  the  Concord,  with  Thos.  Miller,  Commodore's 
secretary,  as  judge  advocate.  The  commodore  was  present 
and  treated  me  with  politeness,  condescension  and  kindness ; 
he  handed  me  a  chair,  and  by  one  or  two  remarks  endeavored 
to  relieve  me  from  the  momentary  embarrassment  and  excite- 
ment that  I  was  laboring  under.  The  order  was  read  for  con- 
16* 


186  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

veiling  the  court  with  the  names  of  the  members,  and  I  was 
asked  if  I  objected  to  any  of  them  sitting  on  my  trial,  and  re- 
plied in  the  negative.  I  cannot  however  but  remark,  that  I 
had  seen  two,  or  one  of  them  at  least,  as  drunk  as  any  man 
ever  saw  me,  and  that  offence  was  my  chief  charge.  One 
of  them  I  had  seen  so  drunk,  that  he  was  like  the  "  crooked 
stick,  could  not  lay  still.''  No  man  that  breathes  ever  saw  me 
so,  yet  I  was  content  to  let  him  sit  on  my  trial,  as  objecting 
would  have  compelled  me  to  make  some  declarations  that 
would  have  injured  him ;  yet  I  knew  that  none  were  so  apt  to 
condemn  faults  in  others  as  those  who  were  guilty  of  them 
themselves.  Although  I  was  advised  by  some  of  the  officers 
to  object  to  his  sitting  as  a  member,  I  declined  doing  so  in  con- 
sideration of  his  having  a  family.  I  hope,  should  he  ever  see 
this,  that  he  will  correct  that  habit,  and  put  it  out  of  the  power 
of  any  other  man  ever  to  do  him  the  like  favor,  if  he  should  be 
placed  under  such  circumstances.  Lieut.  Henry  A.  Adams, 
the  prosecutor,  was  called,  and  the  only  part  of  his  testimony 
at  which  I  was  offended  was  his  accusing  me  of  neglect  of 
duty,  when  a  few  days  previous  to  my  arrest  he  stated  to  me 
personally,  that  I  had  done  my  dnty  to  his  entire  satisfaction, 
and  that  the  ship's  battery  looked  neater  than  any  other  he  had 
ever  seen.  This  was  a  contradiction,  for  which  1  forgive  him, 
and  I  take  pleasure  in  publicly  stating  that  he  is  a  gentlemanly, 
humane,  and  good  officer,  and  after  my  leaving  the  Concord 
he  performed  an  act  of  kindness  to  one  dear  to  me,  which  has 
laid  me  under  a  lasting  and  never  to  be  forgotten  obligation  ; 
and  that  act  of  kindness  he  performed  from  no  motives  but 
those  of  generosity  and  kindness  of  heart.  In  the  mean  time, 
as  the  weather  changed  and  the  clouds  wept  o'er  the  deed,  the 
court  adjourned  to  the  forward  cabin.  The  letter  that  I  had 
written  to  the  officers  was  produced,  also  the  one  written  to  the 
commodore,  wherein  I  declined  to  do  duty.  The  conciliatory 
one,  wherein  I  stated  that  I  would  explain  my  reasons  for  wish- 
ing to  resign,  was  not  produced.  I  objected  to  the  reading  of 
the  first  of  these  letters,  as  being  a  private  one,  and  was  writ- 
ten after  the  time  specified  in  the  charges  ;  but  the  court  after 
being  cleared  and  sitting  with  closed  doors,   decided  that  it 


NATAL  AND  MERCHANT  SERVICE.  187 

should  be  read.  So  much  for  nautical  jurisprudence.  The 
rest  of  the  witnesses  were  passed,  midshipman  G.  M.  White, 
midshipman  T.  B.  Barret,  carpenter  Jonas  Dibble,  and  last, 
not  least,  sailmaker  John  Beggs.  The  three  first  witnesses 
testified  as  gentlemen  and  men  of  honor  would  do,  but  the 
fourth,  John  Beggs,  oh,  heavens  1  Come  forward  John  and  show 
the  public  how  you  look.  He  is  one  of  the  most  contemptible 
puppies,  gentle  reader,  that  it  ever  was  my  misfortune  to  be  ac- 
quainted with.  If  you  do  not  know  him  you  ought  to  be  thank- 
ful that  you  have  escaped  that  calamity.  He  is  below  the 
middle  stature,  his  body  denotes  strength,  and  his  head  stupidi- 
ty, a  certain  lacivious  lear  rests  in  his  eye  which  makes  him 
fond  of  the  society  of  a  certain  class  of  ladies.  On  joining  the 
Concord  I  had  been  advised  by  a  brother  officer  who  had 
formerly  sailed  with  him,  to  keep  him  at  a  distance  until  I 
knew  him  better,  and  then  1  should  be  sure  to  do  so.  This 
advice  I  acted  upon,  and  we  remained  on  the  coldest  terms,  as 
I  soon  found  in  him  all  the  meanness  and  littleness  of  soul  of 
which  1  had  formerly  read,  but  never  belore  saw  in  the 
human  form.  He  went  by  the  cognomens  of  Squire  Parrot 
and  Paul  Pry,  the  former  of  these  the  officers  of  the  Concord 
knew  how  he  merited,  and  the  latter  he  deserved  from  his  like- 
ness to  the  original.  He  imagined  that  what  was  one  man's 
business  was  every  body's,  and  by  incessant  prying  and  ques- 
tioning he  had  learned  the  private  history  of  every  officer  and 
man  in  the  ship,  galley  cooks  included.  He  was  sometimes 
called  Don  Quixote  for  having  made  a  Sanco  Pancho  of  a 
black  servant  to  carry  a  verbal  challenge  or  insulting  message 
to  an  officer^  but  for  this  he  ought  not  to  be  blamed  as  neces- 
sity compelled  him  to  make  use  of  such  a  squire,  as  no  other 
could  be  found  to  do  his  errand,  and  the  poor  mess  boy  was 
forced  lo  do  so,  through  fear  of  disobeying  his  superior.  I  had 
frequently  held  him  up  to  scorn  and  turned  the  laugh  against 
him,  in  order  to  correct  him  of  his  vile  prying  habit,  and  now 
came  his  turn  to  pay  me  for  the  whole.  When  he  was  sworn, 
I  would  have  given  much  to  have  said,  now  John,  pay  me 
good,  but  it  would  have  been  unnecessary.  He  stated  that  he 
had  repeatedly  seen  me  intoxicated ;  this,  too,  from  him  whom  I 


188  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THB 

had  seen  so  drunk,  that  he  foamed  at  the  mouth  like  a  mad 
dog,  while  laying  in  his  berth.  He  related  many  conversations 
that  passed  privately  at  the  mess  table ;  and  so  convinced  w^as 
the  court  of  his  design  to  injure  me  from  malicious  motives 
ratlierthan  a  sense  of  justice,  that  he  was  pointedly  directed  to 
tell  nothing  but  what  had  a  bearing  upon  the  case.  But  he 
had  made  up  his  mind  to  tell  his  tale,  and  was  determined  to 
go  through,  and  when  he  concluded,  I  felt  such  a  perfect  disgust 
for  the  man,  that  I  would  not  condescend  to  ask  him  a  ques- 
tion. John,  I  told  you  the  day  I  was  tried  that  1  owed  you 
one.  I  owe  it  to  you  still ;  this  is  only  arraigning  you  at  the  bar 
of  public  opinion,  and  acknowledging  the  debt.  During  the 
past  few  months,  1  have  had  much  leisure  time,  and  I  have 
many  pages  of  manuscript  by  me ;  in  them  I  have  drawn  a  cha- 
racter that  will  become  you.  It  is  the  reverse  of  every  thing 
great  or  good ;  it  is  such  a  character  as  devils  love  and  chris- 
tians hate,  and  will  appear  in  a  volume  under  the  title  of"  Fag 
Ends,"  and  the  public  will  see  how  you  look  in  your  own  clothes. 
While  my  hand  is  in,  I  wish  to  tell  one  of  nearly  the  same  stamp 

^J B — d — e)  that  if  he  does  not  haul  down  the  false 

colors  that  have  been  flying  at  his  gaff  end  for  some  time  past, 
and  cease  to  represent  himself  as  a  single  man  to  the  unmarried 
ladies  at  a  certain  naval  station,  not  a  hundred  miles  from  Ports- 
mouth, I  shall  devote  a  couple  of  chapters,  and  draw  a  character 
for  him  ;  strip  the  peacock  of  his  borrowed  plumes,  and  hold 
the  buzzard  up  in  his  own  dress.  Ladies  beware  of  the  wolf 
in  sheep's  clothing  !  you  will  find  him  out  by  his  baying.  J — 
take  warning  in  time,  sink  to  your  proper  level,  do  not  think 
yourself  above  a  mechanic,  neither  your  education  nor  your 
income,  nor  your  behaviour  (lately)  entides  you  to  the  charac- 
ter or  standing  of  a  gendeman.  But,  to  resume.  The  testi- 
mony for  the  prosecution,  on  the  court  martial,  was  all  given  in 
by  three  o'clock.  They  asked  me  to  send  for  my  witnesses, 
I  replied,  that  I  should  not  call  any.  The  judge  advocate 
wrote  down  that  I  had  none  to  call.  I  smiled,  and  as  the 
members  were  getting  hungry,  they  very  graciously  allowed  me 
until  next  day  at  ten  o'clock  to  prepare  my  defence.  Now, 
reader,  the  time  that  a  naval  court  martial  takes  to  try   an  of- 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  189 

ficer  is  exactly  in  proportion  to  his  rank.  For  a  seaman,  one 
day ;  for  a  forward  officer,  two  days ;  for  a  commissioned  offi- 
cer, lieut.  &1C.  one  week ;  and  for  a  post  captain,  &;c.  a  month 
or  longer,  ad  libitum.  The  next  morning  the  same  gun  was 
fired,  and  up  went  the  same  blue  flag.  The  defence  was  read 
to  the  court,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  officers  that  could  be 
spared  attended,  except  John  Beggs,  wlio  declined  going,  re- 
membering the  adage  that  "  he  who  listens  will  hear  no  good 
of  himself."  But  it  sometimes  happens  in  this  world,  as  PufF 
says  in  the  Critic,  "  that  we  always  have  some  d — d  good  na- 
tured  friend  or  other  to  tell  us  such  things ;"  and  so  with  John, 
who  was  woefully  hurt  at  the  disclosure,  and  but  little  sympa- 
thy was  felt  for  him  ehher  by  the  men  or  the  officers.  I  made 
no  great  exertions  in  the  defence,  as  from  the  first  I  saw  "  how 
the  cat  was  going  to  jump,"  and  thought  it  as  well  to  sail  with 
the  current  as  to  attempt  to  breast  it ;  as  both  were  to  end  in 
destruction,  it  would  have  been  a  useless  waste  of  strength  to 
struggle  against  it.  I  saw  with  unblanched  cheek,  the  fate 
that  was  to  overwhelm  me,  and  stood  ready  to  "  bid  a  long 
farewell  to  all  my  greatness,"  greatness  acquired  by  years  of 
sufTering,  and  thrown  away  in  a  moment  of  thoughtless  excite- 
ment. Lieut.  Howard,  when  Lieut.  Adams  was  under  ex- 
amination, asked  him  if  he  did  not  consider  me  intoxicated  on 
a  morning  other  than  that  specified  in  the  charges,  thereby 
availing  himself  of  knowledge  acquired  by  being  with  me  in 
the  same  ship,  instead  of  trying  me  by  the  charges  before  the 
court.  It  was  like  asking  a  witness  in  a  court  of  justice,  if  the 
accused  had  not  murdered  as  well  as  robbed  him.  And  on  the 
morning  that  my  defence  was  handed  in,  the  same  gentleman 
rose  from  his  seat  after  the  court  had  convened,  and  held  a 
conversation  apart,  with  the  prosecutor.  Who  ever  heard  ol  a 
juryman  leaving  his  seat  in  the  jury  box,  after  being  sworn,  to 
hold  a  conversation  apart  with  a  prosecutor  ?  Lieut.  Howard 
was  detailed  from  duty  to  sit  upon  my  trial,  and  could  have 
nothing  relative  to  his  duty  as  a  lieut.  to  say  to  the  prosecutor, 
and  his  doing  so  was  laying  himself  liable  to  foul  suspicions. 
When  one  officer  prefers  charges  against  another,  it  is  necessa- 
ry to  bis  character  that  he  should  prove  them,  if  not  he  suflfers 


190  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

nearly  as  much  as  the  accused  would,  if  convicted.  When  a 
first  lieutenant  prefers  charges  against  an  inferior  he  seldom  fails 
to  convict  him,  as  the  judges  are  often  the  messmates  of  the 
prosecutor,  and  if  they  have  any  bent,  it  is  towards  the  prose- 
cutor instead  of  the  accused,  whereas  gentlemen  of  a  civil  jury 
are  always  supposed  to  lean  to  mercy  ;  hence  arises  the  saying 
in  the  navy,  "  that  there  is  no  use  in  going  to  law  with  the 
devil  if  the  court  is  held  in  h — 1."  If  an  inferior  officer  or 
seaman  was  tried  by  those  of  his  own  rank  he  would  often  be 
acquitted  where  he  is  now  convicted.  I  only  mention  these 
circumstances  at  this  late  'period  of  the  action,  to  show  those  gen- 
tlemen who  composed  the  court  that  although  1  did  not  state 
to  them  my  conviction  that  I  was  unfairly  tried,  I  was  aware 
of  the  fact,  and  that  I  am  not  as  ignorant  of  such  things  as 
they  suspected  me  to  be,  even  if  I  was  brought  up  on  the  fore- 
castle instead  of  the  quarter  deck.  That  I  had  been  intoxi- 
cated on  board  that  ship  was  true,  and  I  was  ready  to  admit 
the  fact,  and  give  up  my  appointment,  without  the  paraphar- 
nelia  of  a  court  martial  ;  and  so  too  were  several  others,  al- 
though I  w^as  the  only  one  punished  ;  and  if  my  dismissal  was 
a  warning  to  them,  I  was  ready  to  suffer,  more  especially,  as  I 
did  not  wish  to  remain  in  the  navy  at  that  time.  I  left  the 
ship  on  the  20th  of  November,  with  orders  to  report  myself  to 
the  navy  department,  which  I  did,  on  my  arrival  at  New  Or- 
leans, a  short  time  afterwards,  but  more  as  a  duty  and  mark  of 
respect  to  the  secretary  of  the  navy,  than  from  any  other  motive. 
1  waiced  in  vain  for  an  answer,  and  went  to  Texas,  whither  I 
had  made  up  my  mind  to  go,  even  if  not  dismissed,  and  the 
first  official  information  that  I  had  of  the  decision  of  the  court 
martial  was  in  last  February  (1839.) 

Reader,  I  must  beg  your  pardon  for  saying  to  much  of  self, 
but  I  have  done  so  with  a  view  to  show  you  how  impartial 
courts  martial  can  be,  and  how  members  act  when  they  think 
that  they  are  dealing  with  a  man  who  has  been  brought  up  be- 
fore the  mast.  To  Commodore  Dallas  I  return  my  warmest 
thanks  for  the  courtesy  which  he  showed  me  during  and  after 
the  trial  ;  and  Lieut.  Adams,  (although  he  was  my  prosecutor) 
I  shall  ever  think  and  speak  of  him  with  kindness,  and  should 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SEtlVlCE.  19l 

I  ever  be  in  the  navy  again,  I  should  wish  to  sail  under  no 
better  officer,  as  the  only  fault  for  which  he  ever  censured  me 
is  forever  removed. 

With  regard  to  my  motives  for  publishing  this  work,  they 
will  hardly  be  misunderstood  ;  1  have  had  no  personal  animos- 
ity to  gratify,  for  most  of  the  individuals  alluded  to  never  did 
me  any  personal  wrong,  nor  have  1  received  any  favors  from 
those  that  I  have  praised.  As  for  John  Beggs  and  John 
B — d — e,  I  have  touched  them  a  little,  but  it  is  with  a  view  to 
their  benefit,  and  to  guard  others  against  them.  Had  they 
been  worthy  of  any  other  punishment,  I  should  long  ago  have 
inflicted  it ;  and  am  now  ready  to  satisfy  them  for  this  in  any 
way  most  agreeable  to  their  code  of  honor.  Every  candid 
reader  will  perceive  that  I  could  not  have  been  such  a  con- 
sumate  egotist  as  to  write  for  praise  or  credit  for  the  composi- 
tion, for  while  I  have  education  sufficient  to  know,  love,  and 
appreciate  ele^^ant  composition,  yet  it  does  not  enable  me  to 
attempt  it,  but  only  points  out  my  utter  inability  to  do  so.  The 
foregoing  pages  have  nothing  but  truth  and  good  intentions  to 
recommend  them,  and  as  such  they  are  presented  to  the  pub- 
lic. My  object,  wholly  and  solely,  is  the  benefit  of  my  breth- 
ren of  the  sea ;  and  if  my  production  is  uncouth,  the  liberal 
will  pardon  its  being  so,  when  they  reflect  that  I  have  been 
deprived  of  the  advantages  that  a  regular  education  must  ever 
give.  The  public  is  very  seldom  troubled  with  any  productions 
from  common  sailors,  and  I  wish  to  make  a  merit  of  that  cir- 
cumstance to  my  own  advantage. 

I  scarcely  dare  look  over  w^iat  I  have  written,  for  fear  of 
feeling  so  just  a  sense  of  my  own  inability  to  do  the  subject 
justice  on  which  I  have  touched,  as  to  make  me  destroy  the 
whole  and  leave  every  seaman  to  work  out  his  own  salvation 
as  he  best  could  ;  but  I  have  spent  some  time  on  it,  and  paid 
my  last  two-and-sixpence  for  the  paper  on  which  it  is  written, 
so  that  I  am  determined  to  let  it  go,  sink  or  swim.  How  has 
my  soul  been  wrung  in  glancing  over  what  I  have  written,  to 
see  errors  in  every  page,  that  I  cannot  correct,  as  the  little 
education  that  I  have  has  been  picked  up  as  chance  offered,  on 
board  of  our  ships  of  war,  which  are,  or  rather  were  not  the 
best  seminaries  in  the  world  to  graduate  in.     There,  too,  I 


102  tVlLS    APTD    ABtJSfcS    IN   TUfi 

was  deprived  of  the  books  necessary  to  instruct  niyself.  How 
true  it  is  that  lime  squandered  or  misspent,  is  never  to  be  re- 
gained ;  money  or  properly  may  be  so  by  care  and  industry,  but 
time  may  be  followed  and  chased  to  the  end  of  our  lives  and 
yet  we  fall  astern  of  the  lighter.  Often  do  I  regret,  when 
taking  a  retrospection  of  my  past  hfe,  the  many  hours  spent 
in  a  man-of-war's  top,  or  between  two  guns,  playing  checkers. 
Often  do  1  regret  the  days  and  weeks  that  I  have  spent  in 
perusing  the  fictious,  but  graphic  and  lively  descriptions,  of 
Scott,  Cooper,  IVIarryatt,  and  others  ;  I  have  been  chained  as 
if  by  magic  to  their  pages,  until  I  expected  to  see  a  Highlander, 
in  kilt  and  claymore,  stand  before  me,  if  1  moved  my  eyes  from 
the  book ;  or  an  Indian  chief  start  from  under  the  bows  of  the 
launch,  clad  in  feathers  and  war  paint,  ready  to  utter  the  thril- 
ling war  whoop.  Often  has  fancy  pictured  to  me  some  follower 
of  the  Red  Rover,  in  the  rough,  weather-beaten  countenance 
of  an  old  quarter  gunner  or  boatswain's  mate ;  I  could  conjure 
the  quarter  master  on  the  poop,  into  a  second  edition  of  "  long 
Tom  Coffin,"  of  glorious  memory  ;  I  could  fancy  the  "  hissing 
globe  of  death"  passing  over  my  head,  or  the  rage  of  the  hur- 
ricane sweeping  through  the  rigging  ;  I  could  look  on  the  lee 
side  of  the  quarter  deck  and  see  some  Peter  Simple,  sent  to  sea 
for  being  so  unfortunate  as  to  be  the  fool  of  the  family,  and  by 
his  side  some  good  natured  O'Brien,  who  was  so  ready  to 
give  him  "  such  striking  proofs  of  his  disinterestedness  ;"  I 
could  look  on  the  other  side  of  the  deck  and  see  a  young 
"  Kings  Own,"  who  had  just  mounted  the  epaulet,  and  dream- 
ing of  love  and  honor;  or  such  a  character  as  "  Bob  Straw," 
in  the  "  Patrician  at  Sea ;"  but  I  never  could  find  "  a  Snayr- 
leyow."  There  was  a  good-natured  "  Chucks"  and  *^  Chips," 
pn  the  forecastle,  and  everything  tending  to  favor  the  illusion. 
Thus  would  I  dream  aw^ay  my  time  until  a  main-top-man  would 
rouse  me,  to  sw^eep  where  I  was  sitting.  Had  I  spent  the  hours 
so  wasted,  in  making  myself  acquainted  with  the  rules  of 
Lindley  IMurray,  grammatical  errors  would  not  offend  the 
reader  in  every  page,  as  is  the  case.  Yet  I  have  succeeded 
better  than  many  of  my  poor  shipmates,  who  remain  to  this 
day  without  knowing  a  letter  of  the  alphabet.  But  truce  to 
vain  regrets,  "  what  is  done  can't  be  helped  ;  better  luck  next 


Naval  and  merchant  service.  193 

time."  My  craft,  such  as  she  is,  is  ready  to  launch  forth  on 
the  waves  of  public  opiriion,  and  a  short  time  will  determine 
wliether  she  is  to  stand  the  thunder  bolts  that  may  be  launched 
against  her  by  some  modern  Prometheus,  or  be  dashed  against 
the  rocks  of  neglect,  and  go  to  pieces ;  if  the  latter  is  the  case, 
I  hope  that  some  abler  hand  will  set  her  up  again^  All  the 
fault  lays  in  her  erection^  none  in  the  model.  It  is  a  pity  she 
should  perish,  as  she  is  bound  on  a  rough  voyage  for  the  benefit 
of  a  poor,  neglected,  but  deserving,  generous  class  of  men.  She 
has  no  paint,  her  bare  plank  is  exposed  to  the  action  of  the 
weather  and  the  inspection  of  the  observer,  who  may  see  of 
what  she  is  built ;  and  none  have  ever  seen  or  corrected  a  line 
on  her  until  she  was  sent  to  be  set  up.  No  good-natured  friend 
to  point  out  defects,  or  correct  inaccuracies.  I  gaze  upon  her, 
not  as  the  lover  gazes  upon  his  bride,  nor  as  the  young  wife 
looks  upon  the  first  pledge  of  mutual  love,  nor  with  the  rap- 
tures that  the  poet  surveys  his  humble  strains  ;  but  with  a 
mingled  feeling  of  sorrow  and  regret  that  she  is  not  more  per- 
fect. You  will  say,  gentle  reader,  that  I  ought  to  have  brought 
forward  my  division  of  apologies  in  my  preface,  but  the  reasoti 
why  I  have  said  any  thing  now  is,  because  I  had  a  page  of  my 
quire  of  foolscap  left,  that  I  wished  to  fill  up,  and  as  that  is 
nearly  done  and  the  devil  (printer's)  is  at  my  elbow  ready  to 
bear  it  to  his  master,  I  must  conclude  by  saying  to  the  public 
that  should  it  suffer  this  to  pass  without  censure,  I  may  be 
heard  from  again  in  a  gayer  style,  under  the  title  of  "  Fag 
Ends."  The  truth  is  often  stranger  than  fiction,  and  if  you  for- 
give this,  what  follows  may  be  gayer  and  more  interesting* 
Gentle  editors,  1  have  escaped  drowning  a  dozen  times ;  and 
the  last  time  that  1  fell  overboard  in  the  Mississippi,  I  had  a 
narrow  escape  from  becoming  a  snack  for  an  alligator.  The 
lightning's  flash  has  passed  in  many  a  bitter  blast,  and  left  me 
unscathed,  and  the  shot  of  the  Mexicans  refused  to  kill  me, 
while  in  the  service  of  TeKas.  So  my  dear  fellows,  don't  put 
me  to  death  by  a  stroke  of  your  pen,  or  an  unkind  paragraph* 
Hoping  that  I  have  bespoke  a  good  word  for  my  craft,  I  trust 
her  to  your  mercy,  and  take  my  leave ;  the  sheet  is  full. 
17 


154  EVILS    Af^i)    ABUSES    IN    THE 


SUPPLEMENT. 

Since  the  manuscript  of  this  work  was  prepared  for  the 
press,  I  have  been  enabled  to  obtain  information  on  several 
subjects  of  which  I  was  formerly  ignorant.  With  regard  to  the 
system  of  crimping  alluded  to  in  chapter  third,  I  have  to  say 
that  such  is  not  the  case  in  Boston,  and  less  frequent  in  New 
York  than  formerly.  In  Boston,  any  one  can  stand  a  man's 
security,  nor  is  the  person  shipped  compelled  to  buy  the 
clothing  that  he  may  require  from  any  particular  individual,  as 
used  to  be  the  case  in  New  York,  and  that  excellent  regulation 
induces  double  the  number  of  seamen  to  ship  for  the  navy  that 
did  formerly  in  Boston.  But  there  is  another  reason  why  more 
seamen  do  not  ship  for  the  navy.  The  landlords,  generally, 
are  opposed  to  entering  them,  as  out  of  their  advance  they  will 
receive  no  more  than  if  they  had  shipped  in  a  merchant  vessel, 
and  if  they  enter  in  the  latter  they  will  return  in  a  few  months, 
whereas  in  the  former,  they  may  be  absent  three  years,  and 
then  are  likely  to  be  discharged  at  some  other  naval  station, 
and  their  wages  pass  into  other  hands. 

In  chapter  fifth,  I  have  treated  of  the  evil  tendency  of  the 
ration,  and  now  say  that  had  the  navy  commissioners  urged 
this  important  subject  upon  the  notice  of  Congress  as  strongly 
as  they  put  forward  their  own  claims,  it  would  long  ago  have 
been  remodelled,  and  seamen  would  not  now  be  compelled 
to  purchase,  what  may  from  general  use,  be  termed  necessaries 
of  life,  (tea  and  sugar,)  nor  would  they  be  contracting  habits 
under  the  sanction  of  the  law,  that  would  make  them  miserable 
for  life.  There  is  one  fact  that  ought  not  to  be  disguised,  that 
is,  the  board  of  commissioners  have  been  a  humbug  from  begin- 
ning to  end,  and  have  done  more  to  injure  the  navy  than  can 
well  be  imagined.  That  board  has  always  been  composed  of 
narrow-minded,  illiberal,^  and  selfish  men,  who  had  imbibed 
notions  in  their  youth  which  followed  them  to  their  graves ;  and 
they  were  ever  averse  to  any  change  or  improvement  for  which 
they  could  not  derive  the  whole  credit,  and  although  these  are 


NATAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  195 

now  in  the  minority  yet  they  have  followers  who  may  be  cal- 
led the  Tories  or  Toadies  of  the  navy,  or  rather  men  who  can- 
not think  for  themselves,  and  therefore  suffer  those  old  codgers 
to  think  for  them.  It  has  never  been  proposed  to  Congress 
to  make  a  law  to  give  the  seamen  of  the  navy  liberty  at  stated 
periods.  No.  That  is  a  prerogative  which  should  be  left  in 
the  hands  of  commanders,  but  there  is  no  just  reason  why  it 
should  be  so.  In  the  British  navy  seamen  are  allowed  liberty 
and  spending  money  every  three  months,  and  the  law  is  not 
attended  with  any  difficulty  there,  and  why  should  it  be  in  our 
navy  ?  It  could  be  attended  with  none  except  improving  the 
condition  of  seamen,  and  giving  them  some  rights,  a  thing  that 
navy  commissioners  have  heretofore  been  very  averse  to  do. 

In  the  British  navy  if  seamen  are  injured  they  receive  what 
is  termed  smart  money ^  in  proportion  to  the  extent  of  the  in- 
jury, and  at  the  same  time  they  receive  their  full  pay  from  the 
ship  to  which  they  may  be  attached,  and  after  twenty-one 
years  they  are  entitled  to  a  pension,  whether  disabled  or  not. 
In  our  navy,  if  a  seaman  sustains  an  injury,  he  may  receive  a 
small  pension,  but  if  he  ships  again  that  compensation  ceases 
altogether.  This  tends  to  encourage  idleness,  or  to  deprive  a 
man  of  the  price  of  his  wounds,  and  if  he  should  remain  in  the 
service  forty  years,  he  receives  no  pension  unless  disabled. 

With  regard  to  the  trials  by  court  martial,  mentioned  in 
chapter  tenth,  I  have  since  been  informed  that  the  doctor  was 
found  guilty  by  the  court,  contrary  to  law,  and  evidence ;  at 
least,  the  attorney  general  so  expressed  his  opinion,  and  the 
doctor  was  reinstated  by  the  President.  The  commander  was 
suspended,  and  sentenced  to  be  placed  lower  upon  the  list. 
The  latter  part  of  the  sentence  was  set  aside,  as  being  im- 
proper. 

The  captain  who  triced  an  officer  to  the  mast-head,  by  the 
royal  halliards,  ought  to  have  been  dismissed  ;  but  he  was  let 
off,  with  a  limited  suspension. 

The  naval  judiciary  is  very  defective ;  there  is  no  reason 
why  punishment  should  be  left  discretionary  with  courts  martial. 
The  offences  and  punishments  could  be  as  clearly  marked  out 
05  in  civil  and  criminal  codes,  on  shore.     But  a  great  struggle 


196  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

would  be  made  before  members  of  a  court  martial  would  re- 
linquish the  prerogative  of  screening  their  messmates,  and  pun- 
ishing their  inferiors.  If  we  have  not  the  shadow  of  aristocracy, 
we  have  the  substance,  and  in  no  branch  of  our  public  service 
is  it  more  apparent  than  in  the  navy. 

As  to  the  trials  of  Nichols  and  Couch,  I  have  only  to  say 
that  it  is  by  no  means  the  first  time  that  the  laws  have  been 
trifled  with  in  screening  men  from  punishment  who  have  been 
found  guilty  of  cruelty  and  oppression ;  but  I  took  this  case,  as 
being  a  recent  one,  and  the  more  likely  to  be  remembered  by 
our  citizens.  The  cowardly  attack  made  upon  me  by  Nichols, 
has  had  no  share  whatever  in  inducing  me  to  take  his  case 
to  illustrate  my  subject,  as  that  part  of  my  work  was  in  the 
press  previous  to  the  assault;  and  his  father  challenging  me 
to  a  fist-fight,  in  the  street,  drew  nothing  from  me  but  pity 
and  contempt. 

"  Seamen  have  long  been  considered,  by  our  courts  and 
merchants,  not  as  citizens,  or  even  as  men — but  as  a  kind  of 
cattle,  made  only  for  the  use  of  commerce,  and  of  accumu- 
lating property,  and  they  are  not  entitled  to  the  protection  of 
the  law,  or  even  to  the  rights  of  humanity.  Where  are  those 
who  preach  to  sailors,  in  behalf  of  the  merchants,  the  doc- 
trine of  passive  obedience,  non-resistance,  and  submission  ?  Do 
they  exert  themselves,  as  they  might  and  should  do,  to  secure 
poor,  unprotected  sailors  from  injustice,  abuse,  and  excessive 
cruelty  ? " 

In  all  probability,  the  reason  why  our  marine  laws  vest  ship^ 
masters  with  so  much  power,  is  because  that  at  the  time  they 
were  enacted  native  seamen  were  very  scarce,  and  as  foreigners 
from  all  European  countries  were  to  be  employed,  it  was  deemed 
necessary  to  delegate  extraordinary  powers  to  masters  of  ves^ 
sels.  Those  very  laws  have  prevented  our  stock  of  native  sea-^ 
men  from  increasing.  When  young  men  enter  on  board  of 
vessels,  they  think  themselves  free ;  but  when  they  find 
that  they  receive  the  treatment  of  slaves,  they  abandon  the 
sea,  and  seek  other  employment,  where  they  can  enjoy  the 
rights  and  exercise  the  duties  of  citizens. 

If  we  carefully  exaniine  the  revolts  and  mutini^5  th^t  ocQwr 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  197 

in  our  merchant  ships,  we  will  find  that  three-fourths  of  them 
are  caused  by  foreigners  :  not  because  these  men  wish  to  create 
disturbances,  but  because  on  board  of  the  vessels  in  which 
they  have  been  brought  up,  they  are  allowed  to  speak  their 

minds,  like  men.     If  an  officer  in  an  English  vessel  d ns 

a  man,  the  man  will  d n  him,  in  return  ; — but  should  he  do 

so  on  board  of  an  American  ship,  he  is  knocked  down — and  if 
he  resists,  it  is  called  revolt  or  mutiny — or  the  man  will  be 
flogged.  Flogging  a  seaman  was  never  productive  of  any 
benefit :  if  he  is  a  bad  man,  flogging  will  not  make  him  better — 
if  a  good  one,  it  will  ruin  him  ;  for  no  man  who  has  any  re- 
gard for  himself,  or  has  any  decent  pride,  can  feel  otherwise 
than  a  slave,  after  he  has  been  treated  as  one.  This  I  know 
to  be  the  real  fact,  although  it  may  be  set  down  as  misrepre- 
sentation. 

It  will  be  seen,  by  the  following  article  from  the  Boston 
Morning  Post,  of  Nov.  2Ist,  1838,  that  others  think  as  I  do 
upon  the  same  subject. 

MERCHANT    SAILORS    AFLOAT. 

In  the  '^  Annual  Reports  of  the  Seamens'  Friend  and  Aid  Societies,"  the 
consequent  immorality  of  seamen,  through  boarding  in  houses  in  which 
ardent  spirits  are  sold,  and  the  chicanery  of  those  who  keep  such  establish- 
ments, are  dwelt  upon  at  considerable  length,  but  little,  if  anything,  is 
said  of  a  class  of  monsters  not  second  to  any  under  heaven  for  tyranny  and 
fraud,  and  from  whom  no  back  door  of  escape  presents  itself  to  the  ill-fated 
subjects  of  their  despotism.  We  allude  to  masters  of  vessels,  whose  harsh 
treatment  of  sailors  while  on  the  ocean,  is  oftentimes  the  cause  of  their 
debauchery  and  intemperance  when  on  land.  How  many  captains  are 
there,  who,  not  satisfied  with  the  most  implicit  and  prompt  obedience  of 
those  placed  under  their  command,  in  all  that  relates  to  their  duty  as  sea- 
men, under  the  most  frivolous  pretences,  inflict  barbarities  on  them  from 
which  even  a  cannibal  would  turn  away  with  loathing  and  disgust.  When 
he  deprives  iiis  foe  of  life,  and  afterwards  feasts  on  his  body,  he  but  acts  in 
conformity  with  the  established  customs  of  his  tribe  ;  but  the  sea-tyrant,  in 
direct  opposition  to  the  established  customs  of  the  community  who  employ 
and  support  him,  instead  of  consulting  the  welfare  of  those  under  his  com- 
mand— in  order  to  rob  them  of  their  hard  earnings — in  many  instances 
exercises,  with  unielenting  rigor,  a  species  of  tyranny  without  a  parallel, 
even  in  the  annals  of  slavery. 

lu  the  "  Ninth  Annual  Report  of  the  Seamens'  Friend  Society,"  ii  an 
extract  of  a  communication  from  a  shipmaster  in  New  Orleans,  which  ap- 

E eared  in  the  Sailor's  Magazine  of  April,  1837,  in  which  he  complains  of 
aving  to  pay  seventy-five  dollars  a  month  advance  wages,  to  a  whole  .?^'»'s 

17* 


198  EVILS    AND    ABUSES    IN    THE 

company,  [he  should  have  said  for  the  passage  to  the  port  of  destination, 
whether  long  or  short]  and  very  handsomely  attaches  the  blame  to  sailor 
landlords,  as  the  cause  of  such  unusual  expense.  Now,  we  do  not  believe 
that  there  is  an  individual  in  existence  who  abhors  these  beasts  of  jjrey 
more  than  we  do,  or  one  who  more  ardently  desires  their  reformation  ;  but, 
*'  to  give  the  deril  his  due,"  we  must  confess,  that  shipmasters  themselves, 
in  this  particular,  are  as  much  to  blame  as  the  land-sharks,  if  not  more  so. 
If  they  will  continue  to  tyrannize  over  their  crews,  they  surely  cannot 
consistently  blame  them  if  they  run  away;  for  what  man,  possessed  of 
common  feeling,  would  remain  in  a  vessel  where  he  is  addressed  as  a  dog, 
and  who,  if  he  retorts  by  even  a  meie  look  of  disapprobation,  is  knocked 
down  v/ith  the  cook's  axe,  the  soft  end  of  a  handspike,  or  whatever  may 
be  within  the  reach  of  his  tyrant,  especially  when  more  wages  and  achance 
for  milder  treatment  offers  ?  We  fancy  men  poi?sessed  of  such  feelings 
are  "  few  and  far  between."  We  have  not  occasion  to  traverse  the  globe 
in  order  to  find  tyrannical  shipmasters — for  they  are  here,  even  at  our  door; 
— yes — from  the  port  of  Boston  sail  such  men.     An  instance — 

A  certain  ship  sailed  from  this  port  some  time  since,  bound  for  New  Or-^ 
leans,  having  nearly  a  temperate  crew  on  board.  Jt  is  true,  two  of  them 
had  some  grog  in  their  chests  ;  but,  independent  of  this,  they  were  all  of 
temperate  habits,  and  capable  of  performing  their  duty.  The  ship  had  not 
cleared  the  bay,  when  the  captain — as  was  his  usual  custom  on  such  occa- 
sions— had  the  crew  employed  aloft,  and  then  ordered  the  mate  to  break 
open  their  chests,  and  if  he  found  any  grog,  to  bring  it  aft,  or  throw  it  over- 
board.  This  was  heard  by  the  man  at  the  helm.  In  conformity  to  these 
orders,  the  mate  descended  into  the  forecastle,  and  with  a  crow-bar  com- 
menced prying  the  lids  of  the  sailors'  cliests.  The  noise  he  made  in  his 
operations,  attracted  the  notice  of  some  of  the  crew  who  were  employed 
in  the  fore-top  ;  and^  suspecting  that  all  was  not  right  below,  they  commu- 
nicated their  suspicions  to  their  shipmates,  and,  thus  united,  they  all  de- 
scended and  put  a  stop  to  his  proceedings.  Finding  the  crow-bar  mode  of 
opening  chests  rendered  useless,  the  mate  demanded  their  keys.  They 
inquired  "  if  anything  had  been  stolen,  that  he  wished  to  have  their  chests 
searched."  "  No,"  replied  the  mate,"  but  it  is  the  captain's  orders  that  I 
carry  all  the  grog  in  the  forecastle  aft."  <'  O,  if  that  be  all,"  answered  two- 
of  the  crew,  opening  their  chests,  (without  the  aid  of  keys,  the  mate  having 
nlready  saved  them  that  trouble.)  and  putting  the  groginto  his  possession, 
*•  here  is  our's,  the  rest  may  do  as  they  please."  Tiie  others,  in  like  man- 
ner, opened  their  chests,  and  assured  him  that  they  had  no  grog;  hut,  not 
believing  thern,  he  insisted  upon  having  their  contents  bundled  out,  in  short, 
to  have  their  chests  turned  bottom  up.  To  this  they  answered, "  that  their 
chests  were  their  own,  and  as  there  was  no  grog  in  them,  they  would  not 
have  their  clothes  turned  topsy-turvy,  because  he  didn't  feel  inclined  to  be- 
lieve them."  Had  the  parties  been  on  deck,  and  had  the  mate  there  re- 
ceived such  an  answer,  they  would  have  felt  the  weight  of  his  crow-bar; 
but  believing  them  sincere,  relative  to  what  they  asserted,  he  took,  in 
reality,  all  the  grog  that  was  in  the  forecastle,  and  "left  them.  They  then 
hastened  on  deck,  and  proceeded  to  finish  their  several  jobs.  By  this  time 
the  mate  had  informed  the  captain  of  the  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  crew, 

to  having  their  chests  searched.     "  D n  them,"  said  the  captain,  walk- 

ing  forward,  "I'll  see  whether  they  will  or  not."  When  he  came  abreast 
of  the  galley,  he  seized  a  sailor,  who  was  passing  aft,  by  the  collar,  and  i» 


NAVAL    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  199 

characteristic  language,  demanded  the  key  of  his  chest.  Before  he  had 
time  to  answer,  the  mate,  armed  with  the  cook's  axe,  struck  him  on  the 
head — the  blood  followed,  and  senseless  he  fell  into  the  armsof  the  captain. 
In  this  situation  he  was  dragged  aft,  and  seized  up  by  the  wrists,  to  the 
starboard  side  of  the  main  rigging.  The  captain  then  called  the  crew  aft, 
and  with  the  assistance  of  his  mates  and  passengers,  succeeded  in  seizing 
them  all  up,  the  man  at  the  helm  excepted.  Having  thus  secured  them, 
he  descended  into  the  forecastle,  and  finished  breaking  open  their  chests  ; 
which  he  turned  bottom  up  :  but  found  no  grog. 

Providing  himself  with  a  cowhide,  he  next  questioned  the  crew,  indi- 
vidually, "  if  they  were  not  sorry  for  what  they  had  done  .?"  All  but  two 
answered  in  the  affirmative,  and  were  liberated.  He  who  had  been  knocked 
down  by  the  mate  was  one  of  those  who  answered  in  the  negative.  En- 
raged at  the  unyielding  replies  he  received  from  these  two  innocent  men, 
the  captain  swore  he'd  "  see  their  back-bones  before  he  was  done  with 
them," — and  swinging  the  cowhide  twice  or  thrice  round  his  head,  he 
rushed  towards  the  wounded  sailor,  as  if  he  inteaded  to  devour  him,  and 
commenced  lashing  him  most  unmercifully.  When  his  rage  had  some- 
what subsided,  he  again  demanded,  "  if  he  was  not  sorry  ?"  "  No,"  re- 
plied the  sailor,  "  I've  done  nothing  to  be  sorry  for— and  though  you  and 
the  mate  have  half  murdered  me  already,  and  still  thirst  for  my  blood — you 
may  drink  it;  but  if  this  should  be  the  last  word  I  may  speak — once  for 
all,  and  forever,  I  answer,  no  I  no  !  no!"  Cursing  and  swearing,  the  cap- 
tain turned  toward  the  mate,  and  ordered  him  "  to  strip  the  scoundrels." 
When  their  clothes  had  been  torn  off  their  backs,  the  captain  again  com- 
menced flogging  the  wounded  sailorj  the  flesh  and  blood  following  almost 
every  lash,  until  he  fainted.  Then  turning  to  the  other,  who  had  been 
pretty  fortunate  so  far,  he  demanded,  "  if  he  was  not  sorry  .?"  ''  No,"  was 
the  only  answer  he  received.  *'  By  God,  then,"  said  the  captain,  '*  I'll 
make  you  sorry  before  I'm  done  with  you,"  and  commenced  flogging  him, 
without  intermission,  until  he  had  given  him  forty-five  lashes.  In  the 
meantime,  the  mate,  in  order  to  recover  the  sailor  who  had  fainted,  threw 
several  buckets  of  salt  water  over  him,  which,  entering  into  his  lacerated 
back,  restored  him  to  consciousness,  and  increased  his  sufferings.  *'  Is  that 
fellow  recovered  yet!"  inquired  the  captain,  as  he  rested  upon  the  comb- 
ings of  the  after-hatchway.  ''Yes,  sir,"  answered  the  mate.  "That's 
right,"  returned  the  captain,  rising  and  walking  towards  him  ;  "for  I  in- 
tend to  see  if  he  will  not  be  sorry  before  I'm  done  with  him."  Again  he 
flogged  him,  until  again  he  fainted,  having  received,  in  all,  ninety-six 
lashes.  They  were  then  cast  adrift,  and  bundled  into  the  between  decks, 
and  put  in  irons.  Suffice  it  to  relate,  that  they  were  liberated  next  day  ; 
but  were  unable  to  perform  their  duty  during  the  passage  to  New  Orleans. 
They  both  went  to  the  hospital,  where  they  remained,  until  the  ship 
sailed  for  Liverpool.  As  might  have  been  expected,  the  whole  crew  de- 
serted. 

It  may  be  said,  that  the  crew  must  have  been  a  cowardly  set  of  fellows, 
to  stand  by  and  see  their  shipmates  flogged,  without  attempting  their  res- 
cue ;  but  we  say,  such  was  not  the  case.  They  were  strangers  to  each 
other,  and  they  knew,  that  if  they  interfered,  the  captain  would  run  the 
ship  back,  and  have  them  indict<id  for  mutiny;  and,  having  the  first  story, 
would  make  it  appear  that  the  safety  of  the  ship  and  cargo  rendered  such 
a  course  of  proceeding  necessary.    Besides  this,  there  were  passengers  on 


200  KVILS    AND   ABUSES    IN   tttfi 

board  J  who  would  have  sided  with  the  captain,  as  others  have  done  lil 
similar  cases.  Added  to  this,  he  would  also  have  made  it  appear  that  he 
was  engaged  in  the  "  righteous  cause  of  temperance," — though  more  thaii 
half  drunk  himself  at  the  time, — and  thus  have  rallied  to  his  support,  many 
of  the  self  styled  virtuous  ])ortion  of  the  community,  to  whom  the  de- 
struction of  a  gallon  of  rum  is  a  matter  of  more  consequence  than  the  suf- 
ferings of  a  thousand  sailors.  Aware  of  these  facts,  and  being  perfectly 
sober,  the  crew  acted  in  accordance  to  the  dictates  of  sound  judgment,"iu 
remaming  passive.  A  contest  between  the  parties  would,  in  all  proba- 
bility, have  resulted  in  the  death  of  some  of  those  engaged  in  it;  and  it 
needs  but  a  very  small  portion  of  sagacity  to  enable  any  one  to  see  how 
the  affair  would  have  terminated.  Hud  any  of  the  sailors  fallen,  the  cap- 
tain and  his  supporters  would  not  only  have  been  justified  by  the  ministers 
of  the  law,  but  would  have  been  looked  upon  by  many  as  right  brave  and 
gallant  gentlemen,  who  perilled  their  lives,  against  fearful  odds,  in  the 
support  of  law,  justice,  and,  more  than  all  the  rest,  the  temperance  reform  I 
Reverse  the  case,  and  what  do  we  behold  ?  What  would  have  been  the 
result  to  the  friendless  mariners,  had  the  captain,  or  any  of  those  aiding 
him,  been  slain  by  their  hands.?  Why,  a  conscientious  jury  would  most 
conscientiously  have  pronounced  them  guilty  of  mutiny  and  murder  on 
the  high  seas,  and  a  short  shrift  and  a  high  gallows,  blackened  memories 
and  dishonored  graves,  would  have  iormed  their  award.  Let  the  reader 
reflect  on  these  things,  before  he  pronounces  the  conduct  of  the  uon-resist- 
ing  crew  as  being  but  the  result  of  cowardice. 

n  the  crew  had  been  half  drunk,  the  captain  would  not  have  attempted 
to  break  open  their  chests  ,  for,  in  that  state,  they  would  have  defended 
their  grog  at  the  risk  of  their  lives.  If  our  premises  be  correct,  it  follows, 
then,  as  a  natural  conclusion,  that  they  were  either  sober  or  dead  drunk. 
If  the  latter,  it  hut  adds  a  darker  coloring  to  the  brutal  cruelty  of  the  cap- 
tain ;  for  he  could  have  had  nothing  to  fear  from  men  in  a  state  of  utter 
intoxication,  and  no  good  effect  could  have  been  produced  by  punishing 
them  when  in  such  a  state.  Even  in  the  navy,  when  men  are  punished 
for  drunkenness,  it  is  not  until  they  have  become  sobered  that  such  pun- 
ishment is  inflicted. 

But  let  us  follow  this  sea  tyrant,  and  we  shall  find  him  resorting  to  the 
same  means  to  rob  the  sailor  as  that  employed  by  the  land-sharks.  He 
shipped  a  crew  in  New  Orleans,  at  from  twenty-two  to  twenty-five  dollars 
a  month,  each  man.  When  the  vessel  arrived  in  Liverpool,  three  hands 
left  her.  In  lieu  of  them  he  shipped  tliree  foreigners.  He  then  brought 
several  hampers  of  wine  on  board,  and  had  it  stowed  in  a  part  of  the  ship 
to  which  the  crew  could  obtain  access  at  any  time.  The  baited  trap  thus 
set  for  them  had  the  desired  effect.  The  foreigners,  having  received  a 
month's  advance  wages,  would  have  but  little,  if  anything,  due  at  the  end 
of  the  voyage.  Having  nothing  to  lose,  they  broached  the  wine,  and  during 
the  passage  drank  several  doaen  bottles  of  it.  Upon  the  ship's  arrival  at 
the  port  of  destination,  the  crew  took  their  chests  and  hammocks  ashore, 
and  called  upon  the  captain,  to  ascertain  when  he  intended  to  pay  them. 
When  the  cargo  was  discharged,  he  replied.  Taking  this  for  an  answer, 
they  made  themselves  easy  ;  and  called  not  again  until  the  cargo  was  dis- 
charged. But  what  was  their  surprise,  when  he  charged  them  with  em- 
bezzling the  cargo,  and  threatened  them  with  prosecution  and  the  state 
prison,  if  they  again  had  the  assurance  to  trouble  him,  and  to  consider 


NAVAL.    AND    MERCHANT    SERVICE.  201 

themselves  well  off  by  his  letting  the  affair  drop  so  quietly.  In  vain  they 
protested  and  swore  they  were  innocent.  The  more  they  protested  the 
more  he  threatened  them  with  the  state  prison,  until,  at  last,  losing  all 
patience,  at  thus  finding  themselves  dup^d,in  the  bitteruess  of  their  hearts 
they  cursed  him  as  a  tyrant  and  a  robber.  Who  can  blame  them  ?  They 
had  been  nearly  five  months  in  the  ship,  and  had  only  received  two  month*' 
wages,  and  if  we  may  be  permitted  to  use  the  expression,  had  been  in  a 
*'  hell  afloat"  all  that  time  ! 

Cursing  and  swearing,  they  left  the  robber,  and  instead  of  seeking  legal 
redress,  hurried  into  a  ''  sailor's  hell,"  and  there,  in  the  worship  of  Bacchus, 
forg:ot  their  misfortunes.  On  the  following  day  they  were  shipped  by 
their  landlord,  and  carted  drunk  to  their  vessel — he  having  secured  their 
advance  to  defray  their  expenses,  which,  to  do  him  justice,  did  no  more. 

We  doubt  not  but  the  landlord  and  captain  co-operated  in  thus  hurrying 
them  to  sea,  though  we  have  no  positive  proof  that  they  did  ;  but  we  know 
such  has  been  the  case  in  many  instances  of  a  similar  character.  Be  this 
as  it  may,  the  captain  made  a  handsome  sum  by  it.  The  wages  of  nine 
men — say  at  $22  per  month,  for  three  months — about  $594,  was  not  amiss 
for  the  loss  of  a  few  dozen  bottles  of  wine. 

And  yet,  we  doubt  not,  after  having  tyrannized  over  his  crew,  as  was 
the  case  in  the  first  instance,  thereby  compelling  them  to  run  away,  he 
would  write  a  long  letter  to  his  owner,  complaining  of  the  expenses  in- 
curred in  consequence  of  their  desertion.  And,  in  the  second  instance, 
the  enormous  sum  of  from  twenty-two  to  twenty-five  dollars  per  month, 
each  man,  for  another  crew,  and  other  incidental  expenses,  would  not  pass 
unnoticed.  But  the  true  and  only  cause  of  these  expenses — himself — 
would  attach  the  whole  blame  to  sailor  landlords.  Not  a  word  relative  to 
the  faithful  services  of  his  second  crew,  or  the  $594  he  had  so  cunningly 
swindled  them  out  of,  would  be  noticed.  O,  no !  it  would  come  in  for 
pocket  money — it  numbered  with  his  perquisites  ! 

Let  the  friends  of  seamen  cast  a  glance  on  the  ocean.  Let  them  take 
into  consideration,  that  on  it  the  sailor  spends  the  greater  part  of  his  time. 
That  there  he  is  removed  from  the  protection  of  the  law,  and  governed 
only,  in  many  instances,  by  the  whims  of  lawless  tyrants.  Let  them  look 
at  the  above  instance  of  tyranny  and  fraud,  and  then  inquire  if  the  welfare 
of  the  seaman  afloat  deserves  not  more  attention  than  it  has  hitherto  elic- 
ited ?  Let  them  not  wonder  when  they  hear  of  mutiny  while  tyranny 
exists  ;  for  sailors,  with  all  their  faults,  are  men,  and  love  to  lequite  a  favor 
conferred,  or  resent  an  injury  received  as  well  as  others.  We  except  the 
naval  service.  Would  to  God  the  merchant  service  had  no  more  abuses 
to  reform  than  the  naval.  In  the  one,  a  man  is  respected  as  such — while, 
in  the  other,  in  too  many  instances,  he  is  treated  worse  than  a  dog.  Let 
the  friends  of  seamen  look  to  this,  and  use  some  means  to  place  the  one  on 
a  footing  with  the  other. 

We  do  not  censure  or  disapprove  of  any  of  the  measures  of  those  who 
profess  to  be  laboring  for  the  sailor's  welfare.  Far  from  it ;  we  concur 
with  them  in  all  things  ;  but  wish  them  to  take  into  more  serious  conside- 
ration the  welfare  of  the  sailor  afloat.  To  this  end,  then,  we  propose  that 
such  part  of  the  maritime  laws  as  relate  to  the  protection  of  sailors,  and 
the  duty  of  the  officers,  be  published  and  distributed  throughout  the  mer- 
chant shipping,  until  every  sailor  in  the  United  States  has  them  by  heart. 
By  this  means,  they  will  become  acquainted  with  what  is  legally  right,  and 
ivhen  wronged  will  know  how  to  seek  redress,  Neptune. 


E  R  R  A  T  A  • 

Page  7,  line  10  from  top,  for  accommodations  there ^  read  ac- 
commodations are. 

Page  14,  line  3  from  the  bottom,  for  surgeon^ s  mate,  read 
surgeon^s  attendant. 

Page  19,  last  article  in  the  bill,  for  one  dollar,  read  one 
dollar  and  fifty  cents. 

Page  28,  line  10,  omit  easily. 

Page  33,  line  20  from  top,  for  8000  read  80,000 ;  and  in  21, 
for  4  or  5000,  read  40  or  50,000. 

Page  33,  5th  line  from  bottom,  for  26  each,  read  36  each. 


^ 


b 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 
LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 

Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


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APR  2  6 '64 -6  PM 


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LD  21A-50m-8,'57 
(C8481sl0)476B 


General  Library 

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